All In The Timing
by Fluffy Lady
Summary: SUMMARY CHANGE! Emily Gardner is an aspiring muggle actress. When the Mauraders get stuck with her after Remus-the-werewolf nearly kills her, who knows what will happen? Sirus X OC Remus X OC. Adopted by Eliza Williams, I'll be helping continue it though
1. A Flair For The Dramatic

All in the Timing

Chapter one: A Flair for the Dramatic

"She's still here?"

"Where else would she be, Wormtail? She wouldn't've gone anywhere. Not on that leg anyway."

Emily Gardner lay with her eyes closed listening to strange and rather panicky voices above her.

Where was she? On the ground by the feel of things. Why? That was a much better question.

Not that she minded being on the ground one bit.

After all, being on the ground meant that she would be filthy from the dirt. Dirt meant that she looked as though she'd been through hell. In fact, she could vaguely feel a sharp pain in her leg ... and her head was throbbing like mad.

This meant that she not only looked like she'd been through hell, but felt like it as well.

This meant that something exciting and possibly dangerous had happened to her. She was in the company of male strangers and in a possibly life-threatening situation. At last!

(Not to mention that appearing dirty when she returned home would drive her oh-so- proper uncle mad. Hah! Served him right.)

Her excitement increased when she felt someone lean down and put a hand to her forehead, and even more so when she heard him speak.

"She's out cold," he said in a hoarse but very pleasant voice.

Even though she wasn't "out cold," Emily had no intention of opening her eyes and proving him wrong.

If there was anything her mother had taught her, it was that a true actress always waits for the oprotune moment to make a grand entrance.

"It's all in the timing." That's what she would say

It would simply be dramatically anti-climactic to open her eyes so soon after she had been found.

"What do we do now?" asked a high-pitched frantic voice, which was not at all as pleasant as the one that had spoken earlier. Still, it was male -- and that was what mattered

"Well, we can't just leave her here," the pleasant voice answered.

"What do you mean, Moony? Of course we can."

_What?!_ Emily thought, struggling to keep her eyes closed.

This voice was new. It was darker and more silky than the other two. Emily wasn't certain she didn't like its owner at all.

A gentleman never leaves a lady stranded.

"Right," another voice said. This one was not as hoarse but quite as pleasant as the first that she had heard.

"It's not our fault she was prancing around here on her own last night is it?"

She could not believe what she was hearing. Of all the uncouth, barbaric things to say! A lady is never at fault for an injury she sustains. At least not completely.

"No, but it is our fault that she has a concussion and a broken leg," the hoarse voice said.

Thank you! At least someone in the group seemed to have some manners.

"So, last night she's a meal ticket and now she's a damsel in distress?" asked the dark silky voice

"Moony are you a wolf or a gentleman? Make up your mind!"

"Not so loud," Moony implored.

Emily didn't have a clue as to what they were talking about, but she knew that she liked the one they called Moony far better than any of the others. At least he had a sense of propriety.

"What'll we do with her if we do take her?" asked the high-pitched frantic voice.

Well, it was obvious what was supposed to happen.

One of them (Preferably Moony) would take her in his arms and carry her back to where he lived, nurse her to health, fall in love with her, lose her to a mysterious villan, rescue her again, marry her and live happily ever after.

But apparently these boys weren't as aware of the obviousness of this arrangement as one of them had the nerve to say:

"If we tell Dumbledore or any of the teachers about her, we'll have to tell them the whole story."

"We'll be expelled for sure!"

She had no idea who Dumbledore was or where they would be expelled from, but she knew that if these men had any sense of daring what so ever, they would risk what ever they had to for the sake of an injured soul. Especially an injured female soul.

"Now that I think about it, you're right Prongs," Moony said. She couldn't believe it! They were all conspiring against her!

"There are plenty of people around here. Someone's bound to find her ..." He mused.

Emily was livid.

Couldn't they see that this was her bloody hour of need? How did they know that her condition wasn't serious? How did they know that she wouldn't be DEAD by the time someone else came along?

She wouldn't stand for it. They were not going to leave her like this. Forget about dramatic timing. Drastic times called for drastic measures. And she knew exactly which ones to take.

She would feign waking up from a dead sleep. Then she would proceed to act so confused, terrified, pathetic and strangely loveable that no human soul could possibly leave her with out feeling more guilt than some one who had shot an innocent puppy.

It would work. She was, if she didn't say so herself, quite a good actress. Yet another positive trait she had inherited from her mother.

With out further delay, she gave a moan, turned slightly and slowly began to flutter her eye lashes open. Out of her half-opened eyes, she could see that she was outside on what appeared to be a grassy hill surrounded by dark trees. The four boys were standing still as statues watching her in silent anticipation.

Perfect so far.

Once she had opened her eyes completely she lost no time in widening them in shock as she stared around at the four of them.

Through this phase she took a moment to look at all of them. They seemed to stand in a semi-circle from right to left. She was glad to see that none of them was bad looking at all. Indeed the worst was the blond sort of chubby one on the left, and he was actually quite cute, all things considered.

Next to him was a boy with light brown hair. His clothes were quite shabby and there was an almost sad and worn look in his eyes. Quite mysterious she decided.

Beside him stood a boy with glasses and quite lovely hazel eyes. His black hair could definitely do with a comb though.

And on the very right end ... Emily had to will herself to keep from fainting again, and tried to remember her dramatic plan, though she found it quite difficult.

For when she glanced to her right, she was faced with the most handsome boy she had ever seen in her life. His light, swirling, grey eyes were fixed on her as he pushed his elegant dark hair from his face. She stared at him, praying with all her might that he was the one they had called Moony.

Forcing herself to tear her eyes from his, she gave quite a loud gasp and proceeded to push herself backward, dragging her limp right leg as far as she could. The light brown-haired boy stepped forward to her.

"It's all right," he said in his hoarse pleasant voice. "We won't hurt you."

This was obviously Moony. She felt only slightly disappointed. The handsome one hadn't left after all; there was still time. She kept on with her performance.

"Where--where am I?" she asked in a small shaky voice.

"You're in Hogsmede," the boy said, moving over beside her.

"Wh-Where?" Emily asked, attempting to maintain the small and terrified voice. She had never heard of a place called Hogsmede. This truly was exciting

"Do you know what Hogsmede is?" Moony asked gently.

Emily shook her head slowly, remembering to shake with fear and to keep her breathing shallow.

"A Muggle? Good God!" the handsome boy said from the back in his dark silky voice. Emily did her best not to glare harshly at him. What had he called her? A Muggle? She didn't know what it meant, but she was sure that it was nothing flattering.

If he weren't so good looking, she decided, she just might despise him.

She pushed herself back a little more, channeling her anger into a look of confusion and fear. Luckily, they bought it.

Moony threw his dark-haired friend a sharp look before kneeling down beside Emily and smiling tenderly at her. He had a very nice smile. She did her best not to smile back attempting to remain confused, terrified, pathetic and strangely loveable.

"What's your name?" he asked

"Emily Gardner," she replied before she could stop herself. She suddenly realized what a horribly boring name she had. She wished she could have given him a more interesting one ... like Andromeda, or Eponine or Elenora or...

"Emily," Moony repeated, smiling. It was strange how her name sounded better when he said it.

"I'm Remus Lupin," he said. She nodded but decided against speaking; she was supposed to be terrified, after all.

After a rather akward moment of silence, Remus offered her his hand.

"Can you stand?" he asked. She very slowly, and quite hesitantly put a shaking hand out to his and attempted to pull herself up. As soon as she did however, she felt her leg cave beneath her and she let out a small grunt of pain. Quite a nice touch, even if she hadn't planned it herself.

Remus grabbed her arm to keep her from falling completely. He really was quite the gentleman.

She suddenly felt slightly light-headed as though she was about to pass out again. She forced it away. The timing didn't seem quite right; she didn't even know who the others were yet. They were still standing cautiously in the background. Though she noticed the two black-haired boys had approached slowly when she fell back to the ground.

"Emily," Remus began slowly, noticing his friends approaching.

"This is James Potter," he indicated the boy with hazel eyes.

"Peter Petigrew," he indicated the chubby blond boy who was standing a good deal back from the others. She now noticed that he was wearing a terrified look to rival her own. If he was faking it, he could give her a few lessons.

"And Sirius Black."

She felt extremely faint once more as the handsome boy grinned at her and gave her a small wink. This coupled with the pain in her leg was almost too much to bear. It must have shown in her face because Sirius Black suddenly pulled his face into the first truly concerned expression she had seen him wear.

"You okay?" he asked with his smooth voice. He sounded different when he wasn't being sarcastic or harsh, indeed his voice and those beautiful eyes -- not to mention her stinging leg -- were making Emily's head spin in very quick, nauseating circles. She wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.

"Fine," she managed to whisper stupidly before completely blacking out.

So it wasn't exactly the dramatic timing she was hoping for.

At least now they wouldn't leave her there.

At least she'd landed in someone's arms, even if they weren't Sirius Black's.

She could always get the timing down later.

. .

Do you like it?

I didn't realise it was so long!


	2. The Wrong Place

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Chapter 2: The wrong place

She faintly heard them speaking again as she felt herself being laid down on a soft warm mattress. There was something like a very sheer cloak lying on top of her.

Emily could only guess as to where she was now. She assumed of course that the boys had finally wised up and carried her to -- wherever it was that she now found herself.

Good. two steps down. Even if she did have to ... er ... help them along a bit.

Now there was only the romance question to take care of ...

" ... I can sleep on the couch in the common room, I'm an early-riser any way," she heard Remus say.

Was he giving up his bed for her? If Emily were not so intent upon getting the timing right this time around she would have heaved a sigh. Maybe she was not as far away from winning the heart of a charming prince after all.

"Why do I feel like she's going to be more trouble than she's worth?" she heard Peter Petigrew say grimly.

"Oh, lighten up Wormtail. We've been in worse fixes than this. A girl's going to be no problem," Sirius Black said.

The very sound of his voice made Emily grow slightly faint again. Why did he have this effect on her?

"How did I know you'd warm up to the idea of keeping her when Moony suggested having her stay in our dorm room?" she heard James Potter say, but she didn't quite comprehend it.

A dorm room? Indicating that they were not alone in some desolate cottage as she had hoped.

And what did he mean by "keeping her?" She was a lady after all, not a cocker spaniel!

All though, she thought, it would be very exciting to be kept against her will. Perhaps there would be a ransom ...

Well, if there was, it was guaranteed that her uncle wouldn't pay a cent, unless he himself was getting something useful out of it. That was the only reason he ever did anything for anyone.

"She is rather pretty, isn't she?" Remus asked the others. She felt him lift the cloak from her and move a strand of hair from her face.

She would have sighed again, had it not been for the timing. She didn't know why exactly, but she liked hearing them talk about her when they didn't think she was listening. She supposed it made her feel like she had the upper hand in a sort of game they were all playing.

"I don't know. I prefer redheads myself," James said.

Emily would have scoffed if she'd been allowed to. Her long, tangled blond curls were not all that she hoped for but they suited her fine, thank you very much!

"I've seen worse, I guess," Sirius said.

Bastard.

Sure he was good looking, but honestly how picky could one person get?

OK, so Emily had never really considered herself a tribute to beauty. Her hair was wild and completely unmanageable. Her legs were short and slightly on the chubby end, the rest of her body was rather curvy. Her eyes were her best feature they were large and blue, almost green sometimes. Still, she was decent looking. And if he couldn't accept that fact then he had less manners than she could possibly have imagined.

"By the way, my offer still stands -- she could sleep in my bed," Sirius said after a short pause.

Emily felt herself begin to blush. Luckily, none of them seemed to notice the color change in her face.

"You would give up your bed for a Muggle?" she heard Remus ask incredulously.

"Who said anything about giving it up?"

Three of the four laughed at this. Typical.

Well, if they thought that she was going to be the physical slave to four hormonal teenage boys they had another thing coming. The whole prospect was immensely undignified.

Sleeping beauty never had to put up with this sort of thing.

She hoped that the laughter would deter them from noticing the fact that her face was now completely crimson. (Though, not of her own free will mind you).

"Look, the colour's come back. I think she's coming out of it," Peter said.

Damn.

Oh well. Now was as good a time as any she supposed.

She opened her eyes with much less hesitancy this time. After all, she had accomplished what she needed to with the whole confused, terrified pathetic and strangely lovable act. (Even if she had come off as more pathetic than anything else.)

Remus Lupin was kneeling down beside her, almost as if he were at the death bed of a beloved relative. Surely her condition was not THAT serious. Still it was very romantic.

"How are you feeling?" he asked wearing a concerned look.

"A bit better. Where are we now?" she asked only slightly attempting to mask the excitement in her voice.

"You're in Hogwarts."

"What's Hogwarts?" Emily asked curiously. First Hogsmeade, now Hogwarts. Perhaps she had landed herself in a strange, different universe. Like the Middle-Earth she had read about in _Lord of the Rings_.

"It's um ... " Remus hesitated and looked at James and Sirius who gave him equally hesitant stares, though Emily couldn't think why. It was a simple enough question.

The room that she found herself in looked more like a castle tower than a boarding school dorm room. If this was a boarding school, it was far different from the one that she attended.

"A school. A ... er--" Remus stumbled again

"Rather exclusive academy. You see they only allow the best," James finished for him. Straightening himself up and ran one hand through his already thoroughly unruly hair making it worse than it had been before.

If it was supposed to impress her it wasn't working.

"The best in what?"

"Well, everything," James continued. "Not easy to get in here you know," Sirius said as he fixed her with another of his grins.

"So where are we in this school?" They looked at each other once more this time quite guiltily. And she knew why.

"The ... infirmary?" she asked innocently knowing what the answer would be. At least she was brushing up on her acting skills.

"Er ... " They continued to stare awkwardly at each other "Well?" She asked impatiently. It certainty wasn't THAT, embarrassing to tell her that she was in a boys dormitory. Especially considering that they had been so bold about the fact when they didn't think she could hear them.

"You're in a ... that is to say your in our ... dormitory," Remus said guiltily staring fixedly at the floor boards beneath his feet. So they really WERE that embarrassed about the whole thing.

Well there was only one thing to do now ... milk it for all it was worth. She could have fun with this.

"You mean -– a -- BOYS' --dormitory?!" she nearly shrieked gasping. After all a true lady would be absolutely shocked to find herself in such an indiscreet place as male quarters.

And to top it off, the frantic looks on the James's and Sirius's once-bold and very cocky faces was well worth the act.

"Please calm down," Remus implored looking quickly at the closed door as if waiting for someone to burst in at any moment.

"Where else were we supposed to take you?" James asked defensively attempting to hide his increasingly guilty expression.

"Seeing as my leg is broken, a gentleman would take me to the hospital wing," Emily said in a dignified voice.

"Well that's out of the question seeing as there are no gentlemen here," Sirius said sarcastically as Peter stifled a snigger.

"That, sir, is apparent." Emily retorted. Silently she congratulated herself for improvising a comeback which would make Jane Austen, (Her favorite author) proud.

"Emily please listen. Under any other circumstances we would have taken you to the hospital wing. But ... "

"But what?" Emily demanded.

Remus stared quite guiltily back down at the floor.

"Look, do you want us to put you back where we found you? Because we can," James said after a rather awkward pause.

"It doesn't appear that I have any choice in the matter. So, for the time being, I'll stay here," Emily said making absolutely certain that they knew she did not approve of this arrangement one bit.

"But I swear if any of you try anything ... fresh ... with me, I'm going straight to the headmaster. Broken leg or not."

This part of her speech was genuine. While she found it quite exciting to be kept in hiding in a boys' dormitory, she still considered herself a lady.

"No fear of that happening," Sirius muttered sarcastically looking her up and down with feigned distaste. Emily scowled at him.

"It's a deal," Remus said quickly looking from Sirius to Emily clearly hoping to avoid a confrontation.

"You'd better rest now, Emily," he said in a softened tone taking a pillow and placing it gently under her head.

"Were going to dinner, we'll be back in a couple of hours. I'll bring you something to eat then. If you're hungry that is."

"All right," Emily said attempting to keep a certain note of disdain in her voice.

"'night then," Remus said as he ushered the rest of them out of the room.

As they left, she distinctly heard Sirius mutter.

"I think you're right, Wormtail. She is more trouble than she's worth."

"I heard that," Emily said loudly before she could stop herself.

"I'm sure you did," Sirius called back.

Remus gave her a small smile before he closed the door.

Well, Emily thought as she closed her eyes to sleep, at least the four of them weren't completely hopeless. Remus seemed to have chivalry down to an art. Now if only Sirius could pick it up ...  
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Thank You To the ONE review I got!

I updated as soon as I got your 'Update soon'!!


	3. The Wrong Time

Chapter three: The Wrong Time

"Emily?" She heard a faint whisper from her bedside as she blearily began to open her eyes

"hmm ... ?" she muttered, turning her head to the source of the voice.

She really had needed the sleep, though she couldn't exactly think why. It seemed she'd been doing nothing but sleep for the past 24 hours. Not exactly the excitement she'd been hoping to find when she ran away from that dreaded boarding school. Still, she couldn't complain.

"Sorry, it's just me." Remus Lupin was standing over her looking apologetic and slightly awkward.

"Hello," Emily said, smiling blearily. Due to the fact that she was still half-asleep, she seemed to have completely forgotten about dramatic timing.

"How was dinner?" she asked.

"Fine," he said quietly staring at the floor. "I brought you half of my sandwhich if--if you're hungry." He rummaged in his pockets and produced a rather small triangle-cut, roast beef sandwhich and placed it on her bedside table.

"That was all I could manage to sneak out with out getting caught. I could get more later if you like," he added hastily, still not meeting her eyes.

"No, I'm fine. thanks." He really was very sweet. Suddenly Emily found herself inadvertently moving her gaze downward.

There was a rather awkward pause. Emily considered saying something several times before reminding herself that in cases such as these the gentleman is always supposed to speak first. So, it was only fitting that she kept silent.

Besides, the colour rising in her cheeks seemed to have rendered her void of articulate speech.

She had never been completely alone with a boy her age before. And judging by his mannerisms, the situation was new to Remus as well.

"How's your leg?" he asked finally.

"A little better. Still hurts, but not as much."

As she spoke, Remus moved his gaze from the floor to the end of her bed, where a pillow had haphazardly propped up her broken leg.

"Hmm ... " he muttered indistinctly. He walked over to the edge of the bed and began examining the bottom half of her leg. Hesitantly he reached out and touched a bruised spot where her stocking had torn, she gave a small grimace of pain.

"Sorry," he said, removing his hand quickly.

"It's all right," she assured him. Even though it had hurt when he touched her she realised that, somehow, she realised that, somehow, she didn't mind at all.

"We really should do something about this leg," he said after another slight pause.

"Well, since apparently the 'circumstances' won't allow me to be taken to the hospital wing, what else is there to do?" she said, this time putting back into her voice the dignified sound she had used earlier.

Remus looked thoughtfully at her leg and then quizzically back up at her.

"Well ... there is something we could ... that is, there is something I could do. But ... " He looked very apprehensive, though she couldn't think why. Anything would be better than leaving her leg like this for days on end.

"But what? If you can do something to help please, just do it." She gave another grimace as he put his hand to her leg again.

"All right," he said hesitantly. "But you have to promise not to be too alarmed. This will come as quite a shock." Emily was becoming very excited now. Anything that could cause shock after the monotony of being a politician's neice would be gladly welcomed.

"I won't be alarmed, I promise."

Remus took a deep breath and slowly reached his other hand into his pocket. She began to lean forward to see what he was pulling out when the door creaked open.

He jumped and took his hand out of his trouser pocket. She heard the laughter of the other three boys coming into the room.

She silently cursed them. Now she would have to live with her leg aching like this for who knew how long. If they had only come up maybe two minutes later ...

James, Peter and Sirius turned the corner and stopped dead as they stared at the sight before them.

It was only then that Emily realized precisely what they were staring at. While Remus had removed one hand from his pocket, his other hand, for some reason, remained resolutely on the bare portion of her leg.

Remus seemed to have noticed this to. After barely a moments hesitation he removed his hand and stepped approximately two feet away from her bed. (A shame, Emily thought, she was getting quite used to his hand being there.)

This action however did nothing to stop a devilish grin from spreading across each of their faces as the three new comers stared between Emily and Remus.

"Nothing ... er ... fresh huh?" James asked pointedly, his grin widening.

"Well, that didn't last long." The other two sniggered behind him.

Remus and Emily simultaneously rushed into a flurry of explainations." ... It's really not what it looks like--"

"You've got it wrong. I would never ... "

"It was just my broken leg he was checking ... "

" ... Making sure it was all right. That's all."

The fact that they were both staring at the floor and turning various shades of red as they said this did not seem to be helping their situation.

"No need to explain, Moony," Sirius said still wearing his devilish, yet oddly attractive grin. (_If only he weren't such an arrogant bastard,_ Emily thought to herself).

Remus's cheeks turned from beet red to a shade of scarlet that roughly matched the colour of the drapes around the beds

"I'm sure it was all her idea." Sirius moved toward his bed, clamping his friend on the shoulder as he went. James followed suit.

"Really!" Emily nearly shrieked. "As if your lack of manners were not enough, but now you have to turn every situation into some... steamy sexual encounter." Remus turned his head away, and stared almost guiltily down at the floor.

He wasn't helping.

"Just because you see such disgusting potential in every tiny meeting doesn't mean every member of your sex shares this view point. And I for one will not stand for ... "

"All right, all right. I get the point!" Sirius yawned as he began to pull the drapes over his bed hanging. Emily doubted weather he'd heard a word of what she had said.

"No. I don't think you do ... " She began again.

She was going to drill chivalry into his stupid head or she was going to die trying.

"Emily, let it go," Remus whispered to her.

She glared once more in Sirius's direction but pursed her lips and kept silent. He probably wouldn't listen to her anyway, even if she railed at him all night.

With a sigh she sunk herself back onto her pillows. Remus awkwardly pulled the covers over her, taking care not to touch her broken leg (a pity, she thought again). The other three were soon changing behind the drapes of their beds.

At least they had some decency.

"I'm going to bed," Remus announced to the general room.

"Good night, Emily," He almost whispered to her, still avoiding eye contact as best he could.

"Good night, Remus," she smiled at him.

With a nod he slowly made his way to the door.

"Still sleeping on the couch then Moony?" Sirius asked poking his head through the drapes.

Remus began to blush all over again but didn't say anything as he closed the door behind him.

Once he was gone Emily fixed Sirius with a deadly glare.

"Sorry," he said, not looking in the least bit apologetic. In fact he was grinning again.

"Couldn't resist."


	4. A Magical Technicality

Chapter 4: A Magical Technicality

The next morning came particularly soon. Too soon, in fact, for Emily's liking.

She groaned as she tossed in her bed and began to sleepily open her eyes. Her leg was still throbbing above the pillow. The pain actually seemed worse today than it had the evening before.

The light behind the stained glass windows showed that it was well past sunrise, but still fairly early morning. She'd never been good at judging time by the light of day. Her father at one point had it down to an almost exact art. He said that it helped with his writing, though Emily wasn't sure exactly how.

Anything that helped with her father's writing career was welcomed in Emily's mind. She hated to see him shut up behind an office door in one of her Uncle Rowland's many dreary banks. Still, there wasn't much else to do. While Emily and her parents lived on her uncle's estate they had to abide by her uncle's rules.

Emily smiled grimly to herself at the thought of her uncle. If he could only see where she was now... he just might die of shame.

Emily propped herself up on her elbows and carefully looked around the room. It seemed to be deserted. They were all at breakfast more than likely.

She blinked several more times before catching sight of two slices of bacon and toast lying on her bedside table.

_Remus,_ she thought with a sigh.

True, he hadn't proven himself to be as bold as she had hoped for. If he could not even defend her against those friends of his, she could not see him fighting gallantly to defend her honor. But, then again, she had never been given breakfast in bed before, no matter how sick she was.

Perhaps she had the romance aspect down sooner than she thought she did.

Good. That meant three steps down. Now if only an evil villain could enter the picture...

She reached for a slice of toast when the door creaked open.

"'Morning," said Remus as he entered the room, eyes pressed to the floor. He seemed even more embarrassed at her presence than he had the previous night.

Of course, Emily thought, she would too after the teasing he had endured from his three so-called-friends.

If there was a more unmannerly, uncouth group of people than the three that this sweet, gentle soul, tagged along with, they kept themselves well hidden.

Especially that Sirius Black.

What right had he to be so good looking when he had absolutely no sense of chivalry what so ever?

And, what right did he have to make her faint at the very sound of his voice?

He had planned it that way. Somehow he had bewitched her into being attracted to him.

And she was just certain that her uncle was behind it all some how. Maybe he had even gotten his mates in the house of lords involved. That's right, it was all a government-wide conspiracy!

Finally coming to the conclusion in her mind that the government was not likely to put so much effort into a runaway, no matter how influential her uncle was, Emily turned her attention back to Remus who was still standing by her bed and looking quite uncomfortable, as if waiting for her to say something

"'Morning," she said as she took a piece of toast from her plate. "Thanks very much for breakfast."

"Don't mention it," he muttered still staring at the floor.

"Is your leg any better today?" he asked. This time he simply moved his gaze to her pillow. He seemed to be avoiding physical contact with her right leg at all costs.

"No it's as bad as ever," she grunted moving her elbows further up the pillow and taking her aching leg with her.

"And what ever happened to that thing you could do to fix it?" she nearly demanded.

Though, she was careful not to raise her voice too loudly, no matter how deeply her leg hurt. A lady never shouts.

"I'm not quite certain it's the best idea...I mean I only just mastered it and... of course there's-"

"Remus, please! Anything is better than this!" she said impatiently. She was later appalled at herself for nearly breaking her own rule. She had only just met Remus, she did not have the right to speak to him in such a manner...yet.

Remus did not seem to mind. He looked thoughtfully at her leg and said almost to himself.

"It's true, the pain would be much less, and you would be able to move around. But then there's the question of secrecy. Still, you are my responsibility..."

For the first time, he moved his head to look at Emily in the eyes.

"Promise you won't tell any one?" he asked seriously.

"Who would I tell?" Emily wondered aloud. A faint smile crossed his lips.

"Good point. Another thing, like I said last night, this will come as a shock so..." he turned nervously to the door. No one was there. He continued in a whisper:

"Please don't be alarmed."

"I promise," Emily said eagerly as she watched him reach inside his pocked and pull out a large wooden stick that seemed to have been carved quite elegantly with a black handle.

"_Fevero_," he said pointing it her leg. Immediately bandages flew out the end and wrapped themselves around her leg, lessening the pain considerably.

Emily's jaw dropped and she starred at him gaping. He lowered the stick looking quite apologetic.

"Well, it's better isn't it?" Remus asked smiling slightly.

""Ho-how did you- what happened?" Emily insisted still wide eyed.

"It's quite complicated," Remus muttered. But Emily was by far too excited to know not to press him further.

"Was that -was that...magic? What you just did?" she asked eagerly leaning over the side of her bed.

"Well, technically..."

"No technicalities. Was that magic or not?" she cut in impatiently.

"Yes," Remus reverted his gaze to the floor once more.

"Oh how brilliant!" she exclaimed a little too enthusiastically.

"So are you a wizard or a warlock? I know they're different. And are there elves and hobbits and white magic and dark magic?"

She knew it! She just knew it! She knew it was all true! This just proved it. Her uncle was a blind, idiotic hypocrite! He had told her none of it existed. Well he was wrong. Ha!

Remus smiled indulgently at her.

"You've been reading too many books," he said.

"You can never read too many books," she said attempting to regain her dignified composure.

"Maybe. But it doesn't work quite like that," he said allowing himself to sit on the edge of her bed. He seemed to have forgotten temporarily about the last time they had been found alone together.

"How does it work?" Emily asked returning to her eagerly curious state.

"Well, first of all you sort of have to be born magical."

"How can you tell if you are?" Emily asked leaning further over on the bed. Perhaps she was magical and simply didn't know it.

"You can make odd things happen without meaning too, usually when you're very young."

He said looking slightly uncomfortable, as she was leaning a little further over than was absolutely necessary, and her jumper was a bit...low cut from being torn at the collar by a tree branch.

She didn't care at the moment. She was far too interested in this new world to worry about where she was leaning

"How young?" she asked.

"Before you're eleven," he shifted slightly she could tell he was attempting to keep his gaze fixed on her eyes.

"Well, I used to make odd things happen all the time. Once, I think I ruined my school uniform. I was about six, and my uncle was trying to have it fitted for me so I could wear it to school in September. I didn't want to go to a boarding school, and I kept screaming and screaming while they were trying to fit the jumper over my head. Then all of a sudden this huge stain just appeared smack dab in the middle of the fabric. They tried as hard as they could to wash it but it wouldn't come out. Things like that still happen to me sometimes. Could I be magical?"

Again, she said all this very quickly. Suddenly she didn't quite remember all the etiquette she had prepared for such an occasion. She had very nearly found herself in a true novel. She needed to learn all she could.

"Since you're not enrolled here, I doubt it. When you turn eleven, you get your letter to come here, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Her face fell. Remus must have noticed because he added quickly.

"Not that that's a bad thing at all! We're not better than your lot, just different. My mum's a Muggle, and there isn't a nicer woman anywhere."

"Another thing. What's a Muggle?" she asked, still slightly put off by the less than flattering way Sirius had used it when they first met.

"It just means someone who isn't magical. It's far from the worst thing any one could call someone else," he said kindly, probably sensing her resentment at Sirius's use of it.

"Still it's not exactly endearing, is it?" she asked, still rather pouty.

"Well, no. But, It doesn't really mean anything, it's just a word we've always used," he said quickly.

There was a moment of silence before he got up from the bed.

"I'd bettered get to class. I'll probably be late as it is," he said as he picked up his bag from the side of her bed.

"I'm sorry I kept you," she answered attempting to retrieve her dignified composure and she settled back on her pillows.

"It's all right," he said still fumbling with the fastening on his bag. Though she could see his ears turning a vague shade of pink that she was sure had spread to his face.

"Remus, you coming? We're already late." Peter Pettigrew peaked his head through the door.

"Oh, I'm sure that what Moony's doing is far more interesting than going to class." Sirius's voice floated up from the hall. She could hear Sirius and James making kissing noises from the other side of the door.

_Honestly! What was wrong with men these days?_ she thought. _Well, most men,_ she decided as her gaze moved back to Remus.

"Coming," he said as he stood up and nearly slipped on a light, sheer and very watery material that Emily vaguely recognized.

"What's that?" she asked, her curiosity piqued again.

"It's James's invisi- oh, er, cloak," he corrected himself hastily.

She looked at him suspiciously.

"Right bye then," Remus said quickly, giving her a rather odd look before moving to the door.

"I'll bring you up something at lunch," he added before following Peter out into the hall way and closing the door behind him.

Emily was definitely curious now. But she knew better than to press the matter of the er...cloak.

She had learned from her books that in circumstances like this, the hero (or heroine in her case), was meant to find out things like this by herself. The boys would be gone to classes most of the day. She could experiment with it then...


	5. Public Property

A/N: Yes, I know this chapter doesn't have a lot of action. But it's a necessary lead in for the next one. I promise.

Also, this is the full summary: Emily Gardner's life was at best uneventful and at worst slower than a tourtise enjoying a day at the beach. Until, through a series of near fatal events, she falls under the care of the mauraders. Soon, all of their lives become just a tad more interesting. But then again, when you put a frightened rat, a failed Don Juan, a chivalrous werewolf, a handsome bastard, and an aspiring actress with a talent for sticking her nose in places where it doesn't belong together in one dormitory...interesting becomes an understatement. (rated for mild swearing and some sexual inuendo latter on)

Chapter 5: Public Property

It is interesting to note how quickly the idea of a conscience can overtake a person. Especially when that person is about to embark on what could be an exciting, and possibly life threatening endeavor.

As far as Emily could see, there was absolutely no moral issue to putting the cloak on. After all, it was right there, out in the open where anyone could find it. The damned thing was practically begging her to take it and try it on.

But almost as soon as she took her feet off the bed her Uncle's voice entered her head:

'Proper young lady's never borrow with out first asking permission.' He had told her that when she was five just after she had taken her mother's costume jewelry out of one of her trunks.

All though, if she remembered correctly, her mother had found the entire ordeal quite humorous. She had not been angry with Emily at all. (Only her uncle had really seen anything wrong with the situation. As ussual.)

It wasn't easy living on the same estate with Rowland Hamilton Winshire to begin with, but having him take responsibility for Emily's up bringing was even worse.

Since the age of five, her uncle made Emily painfully aware of what a disgrace she was to her mother's maiden name of Winshire. Even as a child, it seemed as if her every action was deemed unrespectable. Indeed, it seemed as though her uncle took pleasure in demeaning his neice.

In fact, the more Emily thought about it, doing the upright, boring and respectable thing in this situation, would only take the fun out of it for her Uncle (If he were there of course)

Besides, judging by the fact that the cloak was simply lying on the floor, it seemed less precious to James than her mother's costumes had been to her. Surely it wouldn't matter if she simply tried it on.

And if she didn't take it out of the room, then she wouldn't, technically, even be borrowing it. If it really was only a cloak, as Remus had said, what was the harm?

After all, what else did those boys expect her to do locked in a room all day? Remus had fixed her leg specifically so that she would be able to move around. It would be a shame to put that to waste.

But as her feet touched the floor another thought came to her: Remus.

He trusted her to stay there. In her bed. Where she was safe. He hadn't said as much because he didn't think it needed to be said.

Would she be betraying his trust by putting on that cloak?

Then again, while he may have trusted her to stay in bed, he couldn't have really expected it. He did not even have to know that she had tried the cloak on, it would only be for a few minuets at the most.

Besides, how was she supposed to fight off an evil villan, save the world from injustice, kiss a handsome prince or do any of the things a heroine was supposed to do if she simply stayed in bed? If this whole ordeal was to have a Novelesque pattern, it would be up to her to continue it. And trying on the mysterious cloak would certainly be a first step.

Finally she took the liberty of deciding that the cardinal law for such a situation should be that anything lying in the open could officially be called public property.

With very little hesitation, she stepped off the bed, onto the floor, and headed towards the cloak.

The moment she grabbed it up from the ground, she recognized it's texture. This was what had been lying on top of her when the boys had brought her to their dormitory.

Emily stared at it curiously running her hands under the sheer silver fabric. It did not feel like an ordinary cloak. The material was much more fluid than the velvet cloaks she was used to, and it's hems slipped between her fingers almost like water washing over her hands.

Curious. Very curious.

Once the texture of the cloak was significantly analyzed, Emily deduced that it was safe to try on. (Not that there had really been any suspicion that the cloak was un-safe before hand, but testing before doing seemed to be common heroine etiquitte in all of her novels.).

Carefully she flung the cloak around her shoulders and held it there. She was surprised, (and a bit disappointed), to find that the cloak felt like every other, velvet, run of the mill cloak she had ever seen. There was nothing, as far as she could tell, that was different about the way the cloth felt wrapped around her shoulders.

Perhaps it would feel different once she's tied it. She reached down to find the strings and nearly let out a shriek at what she saw.

She grasped her hand to her mouth as her eyes became as large as Sirius's ego. (All right maybe not quite that large, but it did come close.)

Her body was gone. It had completely disappeared. She blinked and looked down again, just to make sure.

Yes. Her body had unmistakably disintegrated underneath the cloak. She had become invisible. Now she was very clear on where the other half of the word Remus had almost said had gone. He had meant to say invisibility.

"Invisibility" Emily whispered under her breath.

It was amazing how words could take on new meaning once they had been said out loud. Once she said that word, invisibility, she realized exactly the sort of possibilities were open to her with this cloak.

She could leave the room. Maybe even find out exactly what a school for Wizardry was really like. Even if it was not exactly like the books she read, such a place would undoubtedly be fascinating.

Her mind racing, Emily nearly sprinted to the door. She was not going to spend all day locked up in a boy's dormitory after all.

But as soon as she began to turn the doorknob, the un mistakable sound of feet climbing the stairs reached her ears.

Was it lunchtime already? The battle with her conscience must have taken longer than she had expected. Quickly she threw off the cloak and ran to her bed carefully placing her leg on the blanket.

The door creaked open much sooner than she expected. She silently was grateful that her quick reflexes found her already in bed, and in nearly the position she had been in the last time the door had been open. (Consequently these reflexes were the only positive trait she had inherited from her dear uncle).

It was a good thing too, for the door did not reveal who she had expected when it opened.

"Alright there Gardner?"

James Potter stepped into the room, his bag slung over his shoulder. He was looking at her with the same dark smirk that he wore on the night Remus had been there.

"Fine thank you." She said coldly.

Honestly was it impossible to simply let that little escapade go? After all, it was never going to happen again. Not that she would mind altogether if it did...

But that wasn't the point. She simply wasn't that kind of girl.

"Just came up to get a few things."

"Really?" She said in the same cold and dignified manner.

Inside, however, she began to panic. What if one of the "few things" he was missing was the cloak? Then she would never be able to use it.

She was gratified to see him walk past her and pick up two books from his bedside table. One looked like a sort of textbook the other... well she couldn't really tell as he had shoved it into his bag as quickly as he possibly could. This was apparently something he wasn't exactly keen to have any one else see as he looked very quickly, (almost as if he were embarrassed), in her direction before snapping his bag shut.

He turned to walk back out the door but hesitated just before he left the room.

"Oh, and don't worry." He said, retrieving his cocky manner and wearing that damnable grin.

"Your dear Remus will be back by lunch time." He threw her a wink before laughing himself out the door.

Of all the nerve!

Well that did it. The final straw.

She was going to follow him with that invisibility cloak and find out as much about the real James Potter as she possibly could. Perhaps then he would not be quite so cocky when it came to women.

And what's more, she would have no moral ambiguities about it what so ever.

After all a boy who leaves his cloak lying around could only expect as much.

It was now public property, and public meant her.

Emily took the cloak from it's spot on the floor, threw it over her entire body and walked out the door, following James (Who was still laughing his head off), down the stone steps


	6. The Salvation Of Man Kind

Chapter six: The Salvation of Man Kind

"Merlin! Classes have gotten so bloody boring in this place!"

Sirius Black had been saying essentially the same thing under his breath for the past hour and a half. (Emily had been following them from the last passing period and into potions class.)

Honestly! If she had gone to a school where the stair cases changed of their own free will, ghosts wandered freely about the grounds, portraits were alive (and actually spoke to passers by) and the classes taught things like how to transfigure a desk into a pig using a magic wand, she certainly would not have been bored.

Hogwarts was, undoubtedly, the most incredible place she had ever seen in her life. It was impossible to count the amount of times that she had wished herself into an abandoned, ancient castle littered with ghosts, cobwebs, torches, and creaking stairwells.

These ungrateful little prats lived in such a castle and behaved as if walking through it was like taking the morning commute in London! She couldn't understand it.

"You're telling me mate." James Potter echoed his friend. "I mean you'd think first years would be able to handle shrinking solutions wouldn't you?"

Sirius muttered something in agreement while James switched his bag from his left shoulder to his right.

"Were the potions supposed to be grey or blue when they were finished? I wasn't sure." Peter asked rather frantically trying his best to keep up with the other three.

"They were supposed to be green." Remus said turning his head to Peter.

"Don't tell me you messed them up again Wormtail." Sirius said exasperatedly

"No." Peter said a little too quickly. "I was just wondering."

"I bet." James said with a smirk that gave Emily the urge to punch him.

It seemed that in her course of following the four, Peter was constantly belittled. True, she had seen his potion and it wasn't purely green as it was supposed to be, but honestly! There was a little thing called tact.

"Good thing lunch is next." Peter said as the four of them turned a corner. "I'm starving!"

Lunch! In her wonder at the magnificence of the castle and her disdain for the four boys she was following, Emily had completely forgotten. Remus had promised to be back by lunch time. And she still didn't have anything which she could possibly use as revenge on James Potter.

"When are you not?" James said to Peter, wearing the same smirk.

Was it possible to pull his face into another expression? Oh, she had to get him somehow! If not for herself and Remus, and Peter, for the dignity of man and (most of all) woman kind.

"Yeah Wormtail," Sirius added "when are you going to learn that there are other things in life besides food?"

Remarkably, it was at this very moment that they passed a group of rather young looking girls to whom Sirius flashed a roguish, winning, smile. Each of them burst into an assortment of giggles and blushes. Indeed, one of them looked as if she might faint.

Had the whole world gone mad? Did chivalry matter to any one at all any more? Perhaps nowadays a bloke just had to be somewhat good looking to set girls hearts a flutter. Never mind the fact that he had no manners whatsoever! Just because Sirius was handsome, that was no reason to fall into a dead faint at the mere sight of him.

(Emily had temporarily chosen to ignore the fact that upon meeting Sirius she herself had not only threatened to faint, but had blacked out completely. But she also had a broken leg and a gash in her head so she had an excuse. Two excuses in fact. So there)

Yes. That was it. The world had gone completely, stark raving, mad, and it was left up to her to set it right.

She wondered, was there any thing she could find out about Sirius? Perhaps something that even the other three in their little group didn't know?...

No. She reprimanded herself. She had to focus on the task at hand. Find something on James Potter. This was about him, not Sirius Black.

She continued to follow the boys up the corridor and down the next stairwell before she remembered. The book.

Before James left the dorm room he had stuffed a book, rather quickly into his bag. She remembered that his entire appearance had given her the impression this was something he would much rather no one saw. This included, she was willing to bet, the other three in his group.

She had found it! The perfect means of teaching James Potter, and indeed the male race, a valuable lesson: girls are to be treated with respect, no matter what the time period. Now if only she could search through his bag while he wasn't looking...

She followed the boys until they reached a pair of tall double doors that were open to the largest and grandest hall Emily had ever seen in her life.

The entire room, indeed, seemed to be made of pure gold. There were golden gothic terraces, and arched windows. Four long, golden tables were set out in the middle of the room. A fifth table stood at the head of the hall, and seemed to fly inches off the ground, completely unaided.

But the most amazing thing about this hall was the ceiling.

Or was it a ceiling? For when Emily looked up, she was certain that she was seeing the sky out side the castle, which was sunny with small wisps of clouds.

Emily stared wide-eyed for a few more moments before she noticed that the boys were moving to the golden table at the far right side of the hall. Limping on her leg (which still twinged a bit), she followed them trying to stay true to her mission. She had to get that book. Whatever it was.

"How long do we have for lunch?" Remus asked, a bit anxious, as the others took seats around the table, where a meal of Shepard's pie, carrots, and lemon custard had already been set out on golden plates.

"'Bout half and hour I think. Not that there's any hurry." Sirius replied with a yawn as he leisurely leaned his chair back on its two legs.

God, he was gorgeous. True he was also unmannerly, sardonic, and altogether an arrogant little prat. But you couldn't deny the fact that he was very nice to look at...

"Oh, there is if you're Moony and a certain blonde female is waiting in your bed." James said with a wink in Remus's direction.

There it was again. Oh she had to get him back, she just had to. Emily shot a fervent glance toward the bag, which James was still holding by the handle

"I told you nothing happened." Remus muttered as he reached into his bag.

"Right." Said Sirius who looked eager to join in a few good rounds of teasing.

"And Wormtail'll be getting top marks in potions next." Peter who had been sniggering along with James and Sirius suddenly turned rather red and a very sulky expression appeared on his face.

"Well," Remus began defensively from behind a book that he had opened over his plate. "Please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I detect a note of jealousy."

His face remained mostly hidden behind the large folds of the book he was reading, but Emily was certain that she saw the faint form of a mischievous smile playing on his lips.

"What are you talking about Moony?" Sirius asked with another lazy yawn.

"Yeah," James continued. "What've we got to be jealous of?"

Remus gave a half shrug, but she noticed that he was still sporting the faintly satisfied grin.

"How are things with Lily Evans, Prongs?" He asked finally, a triumphant sort of air to his voice.

"What does she have to do with anything?" James said. And Emily was happy to note that his face had finally turned it's own shade of red and his cocky expression had been replaced by a rather sullen one.

"Just thought I'd ask." Remus said lightly setting his book down and picking up his fork "Seeing as she's headed this way."

The effect these words had on James were quite astounding. His manner quickly changed from sullen to near panic. His hand immediately jumped to his hair, and he began ruffling it in the same way he had done on the first night she met him.

Quickly he whipped around just in time to see a girl with thick red hair and large green eyes passing their seats

"All right, Evans?" He called to her attempting to put on a rather suave appearance. Emily wondered for the first time, why he insisted on calling girls by their surnames? They were human beings after all, not footballers.

Lilly Evans stopped and surveyed James coldly.

"Potter." She said with a curt nod. And with that she continued on her way to the far end of the table.

James looked quickly back to Sirius who gave him a shrug and picked up his fork, focusing on the meal in front of him. James, however, pulled his face into a determined sort of grimace.

"Hey, Evans, wait!" and with that he tore down the table after her, leaving his bag completely unguarded. At last!

"Think he'll ever give it up?" Remus asked vaguely taking a stab at one of his carrots while balancing his book in one hand.

"Yeah, when hell freezes over. Or when she finally gives in. Whichever one comes first." Sirius answered, his mouth filled with a rather large bite of Shepard's pie.

During this conversation Emily kneeled down beside James's bag. Now came the hard part. She had to open it and retrieve the book with out any of the others noticing. She looked quickly to Sirius then to Remus, and finally Peter.

There didn't seem to be any great threat. Sirius was staring in the other direction watching James's progress (or lack thereof) with Lily.

Emily allowed herself a smile at that. She liked this Lily Evans.

Remus was still intent on his book alternating his hand and his fork in order to turn the pages, and Peter seemed too preoccupied with the lemon custard on his plate to notice anything else.

Now was the moment to do it.

So, not entirely reassured, Emily quickly unfastened the bag. Luckily she did not have to rummage far to find what she was looking for. Lying near the top was a brown book with rather elegant golden trimmings on the front cover. Why James had been so embarrassed about this particular item wasn't exactly clear. Just by looking at it Emily couldn't tell what it was. Of course her first guess would have been a...

"Looks like Prongs got the slap again." Sirius's sudden speech made her jump. Quickly she took the book under her cloak and re-fastened James's bag.

Again her quick reflexes had served her well because, not a moment later James came walking back to his seat, shoulders hunched and clutching the side of his face which was now red.

"So, I take it we won't be hearing wedding bells for you and Miss Evans any time soon?" Sirius smirked, taking a last bite of his custard.

"Shut it Padfoot." James muttered sullenly as he began to stab at his food.

"Now, I really should go." Remus said putting his book and his plate along with the uneaten half of his shepherd's pie and custard into his bag.

"As James was so kind to remind me, I do have a lady waiting for me. See you later." And with a satisfied smirk he walked leisurely away from the table. Emily followed in a near panic.

She had to get back to the dormitory, take off the cloak, and somehow hop back into her bed with a nearly healed leg, before Remus got up to the room.

Grimacing she continued to follow him quickly up several flights of stairs. Finally, they reached the portrait of an incredibly fat woman in a pink frock.

Emily slid carefully in front of Remus so that she would be the first to enter the room. Then, if she was quick enough (not to mention extremely lucky), she would be able to get into the dorm room and at least take off the cloak.

"Cornish pixie" Remus said to the portrait, which immediately slid open. Emily ran as fast as the cloak and her leg would allow her to up the stair well and in through the dorm room door which she shut behind her. Quickly, she untied the cloak and threw it to the spot on the ground where it had been before Remus left.

She heard foot steps coming up the stairs. She took the book in her hands and began to hide it under the covers.

Before she jumped back into bed, she took one last look at the book she had, technically, "stolen". But with every intention of giving it back once she had thoroughly humiliated it's owner by revealing, or threatening to reveal it's contents. But it was all for a noble cause, mind you.

After all, if she could get James Potter to act in a chivalrous manner toward women, then there just might be hope for the human race. Yes. That is what this little book was, the salvation of man kind.

She looked it over once more and saw the fleeting form of two letters embroidered on the spine of the book: L E

She barely had time to wonder what they stood for when she heard Remus's foot steps coming closer to the room. She hoped back up on the bed and dragged her right leg back to it's pillow just in time to see the door open.

"Hi." Remus said as he entered the room

"Hello" Emily replied hoping she didn't sound too out of breath.

"I hope you weren't too bored up here."

Emily allowed herself a small smile.

"Oh, I found ways of amusing myself..."


	7. Black Mail As Art

Chapter seven: Black mail as art

Thursday May 13th,

Care of Magical Creatures: read chapter 22 page numbers 243-254 how to distinguish a kneezle from a full blood cat

History of Magic: Essay, the Vampire war of 1331 12 inches due Monday (Information in notes...I think)

Divination: None (Note to self: Drop class, is a complete waste of time)

Transfiguration: None (finally)

Personal notes: Must remind self to remain awake during History of magic. Will do no good to learn about vampires if mind is on the good nights sleep I didn't get. Remind self to slap sense into Virginia when she begins to stare adoringly at Sirius Black, is arrogant pig after all. While on subject of arrogant pigs, must-not-use-un-forgivable curse-on-James-Potter. Even if prat deserves it. Must sleep, or will lose all sense of self. Yes sleep is good. Good night.

Yours truly,

Lilly Anne Evans

****

Footsteps. Rather loud footsteps. Stomping up the stairs.

'Here it comes' Emily thought as she closed the cover on the last written page of Lilly Evan's journal.

Any moment now, James Potter would come bursting into the room in a rage looking for the pilfered diary of his beloved. She, Emily, would proceed to confront him with her knowledge of said stolen object. Then...Let the fun begin.

Being an actress, she had always had an intuition that she would be good at blackmail. Not that a proper young heroine would ever participate in such illegal practices. And she was still a lady.

But desperate times called for desperate measures. Given the fact that the entire tradition of all things good and chivalrous was at stake, she knew she had to do something. (Even if that something was, just slightly, illegal.)

Sure enough within seconds the door burst open and James Potter ran into the room dashing to his bed. Frantically he began turning the covers. His hair was tussled worse than usual and his brow had broken out into a faint sweat. He apparently hadn't noticed the fact that Emily was smirking madly at him.

Oh, it was fun to watch him squirm like that!

"Lost anything, Potter?" Emily asked sporting a deliberately evil smirk and putting particular emphasis on the use of his surname.

He quickly turned and looked at her as if just noticing that she was there.

"All right Gardner. Hand it over." He said a threateningly as he could walking over to her bed.

"Hand over what?" Emily asked lightly.

"Don't play innocent with me Gardner. I know you've got it, now where is it?" He said advancing upon her.

"I'm sure I don't have anything that belongs to you." Emily said dragging the moment out as long as possible. This was just too much fun.

James turned away from her in frustration apparently debating on weather he should pull out his wand and hex her into next Tuesday or simply stalk menacingly out of the room. He seemed to have settled upon the latter and began to walk to the door.

"However," She began as he stopped in the doorway. "I did happen upon a certain diary belonging to a Lilly Evans..." Emily said using her lightest and most innocent sounding voice.

"But I'm sure that couldn't possibly be what you're looking for, after all what would you want with a girl's journal?"

James walked slowly over to her bed and grasped for the book, which she was holding out of his reach. Now it was her turn to smirk.

"What? Didn't think a girl would be able to out smart a man of obviously superior intelligence?" She asked sarcastically.

He finally gave up the struggle and stepped away from her bed looking shocked. As if thinking of something that hadn't occurred to him before.

"Wait a minuet..." He said eyeing her suspiciously.

"I know I put it in my bag. I remember putting it in my bag. How did you...?" He stood staring at her for a moment more before his eyes widened in realization. Quickly he turned to see the invisibility cloak lying sprawled out on the floor, and then looked back at her wearing an expression of mingled furry.

"Why you sneaky little-"

"I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you Potter. Not unless you want this Miss Evans to simply happen upon her missing diary in your dorm room." Emily had to bite her lip in order to keep her composure

"Yes. I imagine that she could give you a nice little bruise on your other cheek to match the one you got today."

James's hand instinctively reached up to his left cheek, which was still slightly red, a look of panic on his face. Emily nearly doubled over in silent laughter. Who knew black mail could be so much fun.

"You wouldn't... you couldn't. You're not supposed to leave this room." James stuttered. Though she could tell that he didn't really believe what he was saying.

"Oh, we both know there are ways around that." Emily said innocently.

"What are you talking about? How in the world would you tell her?" James asked now completely panic stricken.

"Well, an anonymous little note would, theoretically of course, do the trick don't you think? It doesn't take much to slip down the hall into the girls dormitory. You don't have to be a genius to realize that the doors are unlocked and the common room is empty during the day. Except for me of course."

Emily's eyes were gleaming in silent triumph. Yes, this would indeed be a conquest for Woman kind in the modern age.

"In fact..." She continued. "I might see it as my duty to inform her of the whereabouts of this journal. After all, a stolen object should, in all fairness be returned to it's rightful owner. Wouldn't you agree?" Emily said in her most dignified voice.

This put the icing on the cake. The last statement needed to send James Potter past the very edge of sanity.

"You...you...you would-wouldn't. You...you couldn't...."

Just by looking at his face she could tell that it was taking every bit of effort not to break down, crawl on his knees and beg.

"Oh, on the contrary I would. And what's more, I won't feel a bit guilty about any of it. You'd deserve every bit of what you got. Unless..."

This was it.

"Unless what?" James asked frantically.

"Unless of course you agree to abide by a few very simple rules."

"What are they?"

He was begging. She could see it in his eyes. Perfect.

"First of all. From this moment on you are to refer to me by my first name only. Unless, of course, the use of my surname is proceeded by the word "Miss".

"Fine miss Gardner." James asked with a slightly facicious air

"Second" Emily continued ignoring his sarcasm.

"I do not want to hear any further teasing, inuendos, or even the slightest hint that there are any feelings between myself and one, Mr. Remus Lupin that reach beyond a plutonic nature."

James smirked slightly but said:

"Consider the whole thing forgotten. Anything else?"

Emily thought silently for a moment and then said:

"Yes. Please try and lay off Peter. He has such a difficult time as it is."

This came out as more of a request than the other two. And indeed, Emily had not even meant for it to be one of her terms. The thought had simply come to her on a whim. But after she had seen how James and the others treated the poor boy, she felt she owed him something. This seemed to be the one demand that James had difficulty agreeing to.

"All right, I'll try." He said finally. "Although I can't speak for Sirius. So I won't promise anything on that front."

"Good enough." Emily sighed "Here's your precious journal." He took it greedily from her and began to flip open the pages.

Idiot. Emily thought. No matter what she had asked him to do, he would still carry on with his arrogant piggish ways out side the dormitory. Unless of course... Emily smiled as a brilliant idea struck her.

"I just hope you know your going about it the wrong way." She said lightly as she began to pick up the rest of the custard that Remus had brought after lunch.

"Going about what the wrong way?" James asked very quickly. His face was turning a distinct shade of pink.

"I'm just guessing that you didn't steal that diary because of it's stimulating literary value." Emily said, nearly laughing. Honestly, how stupid did he think she was? James's face went pinker. She went on.

"If you want to find out what she thinks of you, she hasn't written anything at all flattering in there."

James looked somewhat dejected at that statement.

"She-she hasn't?" He asked looking at the diary as his face fell.

If she hadn't known him to be so cocky, in that moment, Emily just might have felt sorry for James Potter. The moment passed however, and James straightened up apparently furious with himself.

"And why should I care what she thinks any way? It'll take a while but she'll come around." He said attempting to retrieve his cool non-chalant air from his small moment of weakness.

"Which brings me to another point." Emily said after a slight eye roll at James's failed cool act.

"You won't find any step by step course on how to win her heart in that diary either." Emily finished. This was the point she was most concerned about. Hopefully he would catch the hint.

"Isn't that the kind of thing you lot usually write about in your diaries?" James had attempted to say this sarcastically but she could tell that beneath it all, he was genuinely interested.

"Contrary to popular belief, girls don't write diaries as handbooks for boys to pick up and use to their advantage. Diaries express our feelings at specific moments. I've never seen one that outlines how a girl really wants to be treated."

Emily explained slowly. It was a bit more complicated then that actually. But James was only a beginner.

"And you know how girls really want to be treated?" James asked looking up at her curiously and setting down the open diary.

"Of course I do, I'm a girl." Emily said lightly.

She could see the wheels beginning to turn in James's mind.

"Hey Gar-"

Emily shot him a quick, deadly glare.

"I mean, Emily." He continued hastily.

"This... this thing. The way girls want to be treated and all that... do you think you could..."

"Teach you the noble art form that is chivalry?" Emily continued for him.

She took a moment to survey James, and appeared to contemplate the matter. Oh, manipulation was a fun game when played right. Finally she said.

"Well I suppose so, if your up to it. After all your not completely hopeless. But I'm warning you now, it won't be easy."

"Prongs! You coming? We'll be late for quidditch practice!" Sirius's voice called from the stair well. Why did he always seem to have the worst possible timing? And what in the world was quidditch?

"In a minuet Padfoot!" James called back. For the first time it really struck Emily to wonder what all those nicknames meant.

"I've got to go now. But after quidditch could we, you know, start?" James asked hopefully. It was actually quite cute how excited he seemed.

Emily thought for a moment. Remus had promised to come up before bed to check up on her. For some reason she didn't want him to know what James now knew about the cloak.

"No. Don't worry about it then. Tomorrow after dinner will be fine to start with." She said a bit hastily. He looked slightly disappointed at having to wait so long.

"Fine." He said all the same.

At that moment they heard foot steps coming from the stair well.

"Jesus Gardner, you running a harem up here?" Sirius Black said when he poked his head in the door and spotted James near her bed. Emily gave him one of her deadliest glares. James, however, appeared unphased.

"You wish Padfoot." He said smirking at his friend as he walked out the door and down the hall. Sirius however stayed behind.

"You know Gardner, as long as your taking customers, I'm free tomorrow."

"Oh, get out!" Emily said sharply as she hurled one of her shoes at the door. Sirius moved out of it's way quickly, but returned to the doorframe smiling.

"Just checking." He said with a wink before closing the door behind him.


	8. The Saving Power Of Chocolate

A/N: This chapter went in a completely different direction than I intended it to, but the Remus/Emily conversation took longer than I expected so... not a whole lot happens in this chapter. Hope you don't mind.

P.S This chapter takes more of a Emily/Remus turn, but I'm still considering Sirius/Emily possibilities.

Chapter eight: The saving power of chocolate

It is truly amazing the things one can learn when one is locked in a dorm room with absolutely nothing to do. From being in this exact situation, Emily Gardner had seemingly mastered the art of telling time by the light of day (quite as her father had before he was forced into employment at her Uncle's horrid bank).

Now, for example, The sun was peeking through the stain glassed windows and beginning to cast small shadows on the wooden floor. This meant that it was nearly six o'clock. Almost time for dinner.

Remus would be up soon. The highlight of her day, Emily thought quite bitterly.

Not that she didn't enjoy his company. She simply found it much more interesting to talk to him after eavesdropping on him and his friends over dinner via a certain invisibility cloak.

She had only gone one day without and already Emily missed it terribly. Indeed, she was beginning to sincerely wish that she had waited at least one more day to tell James that she had used the cloak.

Well, of course she hadn't really told him. He'd made that assumption completely on his own. This, however, did not change the fact that James had kept an annoyingly close watch on his cloak ever since the little black mail episode of the previous evening. He'd kept it in his bag the entire day, not once letting it out of his sight.

Emily began to wonder vaguely weather or not the diary would hold just as many blackmail capabilities today as it did yesterday. She could always use the same threat to...er...persuade James to allow her to use the cloak during the day. Couldn't she?

She made a mental note to attempt this after James's first "lesson" that evening. After all, a girl had to have something to amuse herself with.

It was at that moment that a knock came at the door.

"Come in Remus."

Remus had, for some reason taken to knocking on the door to his own dormitory. She had asked him about it that morning, and he had told her it was something he'd learned from his mother. She had always told him that it was simply proper etiquette to knock on the door when a lady was in a room alone.

Though this sounded, to Emily, almost like something her uncle would say, she had to admit that she appreciated the gesture. After all, this was also something a proper hero in a novel would do.

"Hey Emily." He said poking his head through the door.

She noticed that he had also become a bit bolder with her since the "magical bandaging" incident. Which she could only see as an improvement. At least this way his lovely sad eyes were not constantly pressed to the floor away from her gaze. She had to admit that she did like looking into them.

"Hi Remus. So what is it today?" She asked peering at the plate he had brought for her.

"Chicken breast and mashed potatoes." Emily smiled as he laid the plate down on the bedside table. So far the food had proved to be much better than the food at St Magdalene's (That wretched, exclusive, all girls academy which her uncle had put her up in.)

"And what's for desert?" She always asked that question with great anticipation. Because, while she had had wonderful deserts in the past few days, (that included Strawberry tart, Lemon custard, and something called a pumpkin pastie which turned out to be something like a crème puff.), she was still always missing the one element that made her whole world complete...

"Chocolate pudding." He answered

That was it.

"Thank God!" Emily nearly yelled, all dignity quite forgotten as she took the small bowl that held the heavenly chocolate aroma greedily from his hands.

"Just a bit enthusiastic are we?" He asked in a half amused, half shocked tone.

It took a moment before Emily found control of herself once more.

"I'm sorry Remus. It's just that I haven't had chocolate in months!" And with very little hesitation she began to hungrily scoop up the contents of the bowl with the spoon he had given to her.

"Forgive me if I still don't completely understand it. I mean chocolate isn't exactly a delicacy is it?" He said with the slightest hint of an amused eye roll at her current eating habits.

She looked up at him scandalized 'not exactly a delicacy?' how could he possibly say such a thing?

"It is if you've been living off cold soup with bread and chese every day since you were eleven." She said coolly, still shocked at his disappreciation for such a heavenly product.

"Think what you like I suppose. I've just never seen what's so wonderful about it. To me chocolate is just like any other sweet."

Was he mad? Chocolate was the saving food of the world, man's most ingenious creation, and she was sure, no matter what those nun's said about the fruit, chocolate was what had lured Eve to eat from the tree of good and evil. The mere taste of it was enough to turn anyone into a life long addict.

Yet this man stood before her acting as if chocolate, devine chocolate, was merely cheap candy!

She took a deep breath in order to collect her self. It was allright. He was simply unenlightened. At least, she thought to herself, she had found a flaw in someone apparently near perfect.

Besides that gave her something to work on with regards to him. He was going to not just like, but LOVE chocolate by the time she was through with him. And she told him so...er, in so many words.

"Someday Remus Lupin, you too will discover the saving, redemptive, power that is chocolate." Emily told him in her most dignified voice. Yes, that wording was better anyway, more powerful.

"Amazing prediction. Even if it is a bit far fetched."

Emily scoffed realizing that she had her work cut out for her. She proceeded to finish the small bowls contents, as Remus took a seat looking at her almost cautiously as she ate.

As she looked at him she ventured to ask a question that had been burning in her mind for months:

"Remus?"

"Yeah?" He edged forward on his chair.

"Why are you doing this?" She cursed herself for being so vauge. It was a tactic she had learned from plays and movies that she had seen. But it obviously wasn't going to work the same way in a real life situation. No matter how "novelesque" that situation appeared to be.

"Doing what?" He asked looking as perplexed as she had expected him to be. She cursed herself again, but answered slowly. Wanting to get it right this time.

"Well, I mean all of this. Bringing me my meals everyday, checking in on me between classes and before you go downstairs at night, giving me your bed..."

"I won't anymore if...if you don't want me to." He pressed his eyes down to the floor, looking very much like a forlorn puppy.

"No, no. I do appreciate it." She answered quickly. Perfect, she had given him the wrong impression.

"Besides, I-I like having you here." She added quietly. His face brightened at this admission as he lifted his eyes from the floor.

"You do?" He asked smiling brilliantly.

She had saved herself. Even if she had, basically, admitted to fancying him in the process. But his smile made it worth it. (And this time it had reached his eyes, which was rare.)

"Yes." She answered. "I was just wondering. I mean I never get this sort of treatment from the others. In fact I've never gotten this sort of treatment from anyone."

He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment.

"Well, I suppose it's because I feel responsible for you." He said carefully.

"After all I was the one who..." He paused suspiciously for a moment.

"...Who found you." He continued finally. Not for the first time Emily had a suspicious feeling that he wasn't telling her everything.

"You say that like it's something to feel guilty about." She said with a small laugh. Remus began fidgeting nervously.

"I should be thanking you on bended knee. In fact, I probably owe you my life." Remus blushed lightly and began to look to the floor again.

"Oh, I don't know." He muttered quietly.

"It's true!" Emily said, again attempting not to raise her voice with him. Their relationship was still not quite at that stage after all. Not that a true lady would raise her voice even if it were. But she hated hearing him belittle himself.

"Remus you have to stop beating yourself up like this. After all, it wasn't your fault I was out there alone at night was it?" He looked slightly flustered but shook his head slowly.

Of course it wasn't his fault. She had that horrible school to thank for that. Those terrible nuns (who were ten times worse than any creature she would have encountered in the wild), had pushed her to the brink of her sanity and forced her, however indirectly, to run away from St. Magdalene's and take her chances in the wilderness.

"And it wasn't you who forced me to climb up in that tree was it?" He seemed oddly hesitant to respond this time. He began to fidget with the edge of her bed covers again. "No, of course not." He answered finally in a strangled sounding voice. Now she knew there was definitely something he wasn't telling her, and she was dying to know what it was.

She thought for a moment. This would have to be handled cautiously if she was going to extract something from him. She would have to find out in a very vauge, yet tactful manner...yes that was the way to approach this.

"See, the idea is preposterous." She began to laugh lightly. The same laugh she had heard her mother use in her plays. It always seemed to work for her.

"After all, that thing, whatever it was, that scared me enough to climb up there, certainly wasn't human."

That was true that large horribly terrifying figure that you had seen just before you dashed up the small tree for safety, could not, even by the largest stretch of the imagination been human.

She looked to Remus hoping that she had coaxed him into telling her what she knew. It didn't look like he was budging though. He had stopped fidgeting but his eyes were still focused on the floor.

"No. It wasn't human." He said quietly.

Damn. She had to find out what he knew. He obviously knew something about that...that...thing that she didn't. She would try again.

Tact, tact. She had to remember use tact...oh sod it.

She was just desperate enough to use the direct approach. It wouldn't work, she knew, but she had to at least try or she'd go mad.

"So what was it?" She asked exasperatedly.

"What was what?"

"That thing that chased me into the tree, what was it?" His face turned red and he hesitated a moment before answering.

"Oh, wolf probably." He said avoiding her eyes.

He still wouldn't budge. She knew it. Oh, well. If she could get James to give her the cloak during the day then she could...yes that would work. She'd just have to wait until then.

"Well, I'd better go. Homework. I'll be back before bed." He moved out of the chair.

"Oh," He added before he reached the door. "And be sure not to spoil your appetite on that chocolate."

"Yes Father." Emily answered sarcastically. He smiled at her and began once again to head towards the door.

"Remus?" Emily stopped him once again before he reached it. She had decided to give it one more try, without the aid of the cloak.

"Yes?" He asked almost eagerly.

"What's the real reason you do all this? I never really got an adequate answer."

Remus looked at her for a second before his cheeks began to flush.

"Well, I suppose I just...like seeing you" He said quietly, his face now beginning to turn completely crimson.

"I like seeing you to." Emily said before she could stop herself.

So he DID fancy her! She wasn't imagining it. How perfect. Now where in the world was that mysterious evil villan...?

He beamed at her, his smile once again reaching his eyes. The moment was somewhat broken by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

They both turned around to see James Potter leaning leisurely against the doorway. He looked at them smirking for a moment, and then opened his mouth as if to say something

Emily raised her eyebrow and looked discreetly in the direction of Lilly Evans's diary, which was still lying on his bed.

A flicker of panic settled into James's eyes for a moment. Then he swallowed and said simply.

"If you don't mind moony, miss Gardner and I have...er... business of a personal nature to discuss." Remus looked back and forth between them perplexed.

"I'll see you later Remus." Emily smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. Remus smiled back at her, but still looked rather bewildered.

"All right then." He said. And with one last cautious look, he left the room closing the door behind him.

"Right then." James said eagerly walking over to her bed.

"What exactly is it that I have to do?" He sat down in the chair in, what he apparently thought to be a cool and charming manner.

Emily heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes. This was going to be harder than she thought...


	9. The Price Of Chivalry

"WHAT?!" James asked, his mouth agape.

Emily glared at him as hard as she could. Honestly! It wasn't as if she were asking for the moon. she wasn't even asking for the cloak really. She simply wanted to use it during the day. James wasn't putting it to any use then any way so what was the harm?

"No way. I'm not giving up this cloak for anyone!"

"I didn't say anything about giving it up did I? I just need to borrow it in order to..."

She had to find away to tie the cloak in to the lessons somehow. But how...

"...To track your progress. I'll have to be there for at least the first few days to make sure you don't make a complete fool of yourself." Yes, that made sense. Apparently it made sense to James too. He now looked as if he were deliberating the matter quite carefully.

"So, if I give you the cloak, you'll be there to...er...help me along. Not that I need it mind you," he added quickly.

Emily rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure you don't," she said facisiously

James appeared not to have heard her, apparently still deep in thought.

"And what if I refuse to give it to you?" he said throwing a cautious glance at the diary.

"Well, that depends. After all, Lily will be missing her diary, and she's going to begin looking for it somewhere, if that somewhere just happens to be here..." Emily gave James her favorite I've-won-and-you-know-it smile.

"All right, all right. You win," James said exasperatedly, throwing himself back into the chair.

"I know," Emily said with a light smile.

"So this means I'll have to be on my best behavior for the next few days, right?" James asked with a less-than-enthusiastic sigh.

"Right. You do remember what I've told you don't you?" It had been a while since the beginning of the lesson. She could only hope he wasn't as thick as he seemed to be...

"I think so," James said with his brow furrowed slightly. _Oh come on, Emily thought to herself. He held the salvation of chivalry in his hands. He had to remember._ "First of all, call her by her first name."

Good. One down.

"Second, be silently present, but not too demanding. Let her come to me."

That was two. Half-way there.

"Third...is this one really necessary?"

And he was doing so well.

"Of course it is! This rule goes down to the very roots of chivalry! It's possibly the most important of all!" Emily said in a very dignified voice. Rule number three had been her personal favorite.

"But what does being civil to my enemies have to do with Lily going out with me?"

Still a beginner, he didn't understand yet. So Emily explained it to him...again. (Honestly. You'd think after three repetitions he'd get it).

"I've told you chivalry is not a technique you can turn on and off whenever you wish. It has to become a way of life. Besides, you can bet that she'll be looking at how you're treating everyone else. It gives her an excuse not to like you if you start shooting your mouth off...or whatever it is you do."

Emily made the speech much quicker this time than she had at the beginning of the night. She could only hope that this time she'd drilled it in permanently.

"Well, it's not exactly as easy as it sounds. You don't know some of the people I have to deal with," James stood up from his chair and began pacing again.

"Every one has to live with people they don't particularly like. The point is not to let them get the better of you. If you sink to their level they've won."

Emily said though she felt silently guilty. Some where between theblack mail, the lectures, and the death glares (not to mention shoes) she'd thrown at Sirius in the three days she had been there, she couldn't help but feel that she wasn't exactly practicing what she preached. Still it was all in the name of chivalry and that was what was important, right?

"Oh, you just wait until you see the Slytherins. It's a bit hard to be civil to your enemies when they're hexing you with your back turned," James said with a cynical and almost twisted smile. She was really beginning to wonder about him.

"That may be, but the rule still applies."

James took in a long breath but flopped on the chair in clear defeat. "Now," Emily continued, "anything else?"

"Nope, that's it," James said quickly, a hopeful look on his face.

"Oh, no. You're not getting off that easily. Come on, number four," Emily said crossing her arms. If he was going to be a gentleman, he had to do it properly.

"GiveLily'sdiaryback," he muttered very quickly with his head down. "But wasn't the entire point of this lessons to get her to like me? She'll hate me if she finds out that I took it."

Emily rolled her eyes again. Like most boys, James didn't get it.

"First of all these lessons are for you to learn to behave in a chivalrous manner, if they're properly put into practice they should go much farther than getting you a date," Emily said indignently.

"And second. It's better to be honest from the beginning than to be caught latter and have to explain yourself."

James looked at Emily very hesitantly for a moment then, finally, he conceded.

"Allright. I'll find a way to give it back to her." Emily gave him a satisfied smile

"And I have a feeling that this chivalry thing is going to be more than I bargained for," James said cynically as he picked Lily's diary almost lovingly up from its place on Emily's bed.

"If all goes well, then it should," Emily said in a dignified voice. This experiment was going to work, even if it cost her her life (or something more valuable)

"So this means that for the next few days I not only have to be on my best behavior around Lilly but everyone else as well?"

"That's right," Emily said happily. He was catching on faster than she thought. She just might not have to give up her worthless life after all.

"Why do I get the feeling the others aren't going to like that?"

She knew that by the "others" he meant Sirius.

Remus would probably see James's new attitude as an improvement. And Peter would think that James was brilliant no matter what his outlook on life was. But Sirius was another matter entirely.

"'Evening ladies." Speak of the devil.


	10. Love thine Enemy

Chapter ten: Love thine Enemy...Ha!

Sirius Black had poked his head in the doorway before walking into the room in his usual cocky I'm-sexy-and-I-know-it manner.

"Hullo Padfoot. So what wreck downstairs managed to chase you up here?"

James moved from Emily's bed to his own trunk and carelessly threw Lily's diary back into it.

No matter what he said he still acted like an arrogant prat in the presence of his best friend. She would have to change that.

"Peter tried to do and incendio spell on the common room fire and ended up lighting the curtains. It's absolute chaos down there."

"He's allright isn't he?" Emily asked.

Poor Peter. He always seemed to get the wrong end of things.

"Who?" Sirius asked unconcernedly

"Peter."

"Oh. Yeah he'll be fine. He's always doing stuff like this."

Emily gave him another one of her death glares and turned away. She'd tried lecturing. It was no use. Besides she'd promised Remus that she would lay off.

"So what? You usually like a little chaos," James commented

"Yeah but then Mcgonagel came in." Sirius threw himself into the chair.

"She hasn't exactly been pleased with me since the whole distraught houself kitchen episode. So I thought it best not to get in her way for a while."

James closed his trunk.

"Well, I suppose I should go down to...er...help," James said with a strangely mischievous smile. Emily had a strange feeling that James's version of 'help' might just involve a few incendio spells (whatever they were. Something having to do with fire no doubt. How unoriginal!), of his own.

"Have fun," Sirius said, putting his feet lazily up on the bed as James headed toward the door.

Emily looked to James silently begging him not to leave. The last thing she needed was to be left alone in a room with Sirius Black. James caught her gaze and simply gave her another mischievous grin accompanied by a wink.

"Same time tomorrow Emily?" he said, putting on his deep voice. Emily's face flushed. She could see Sirius smirking as he stared between them. But, she wouldn't let him get to her. Why should she care what he thought any way?

"Yes. See you then James," she said defiantly.

And with another wink, James left the room.

"Oh...wait until I tell Remus. He'll be absolutely heart broken." Sirius said casually as he picked up a string from the floor and began twirling it between his fingers.

For heaven sake! Simply because she was a girl! Still, she remembered what she told James, she had to be civil.

"You're an insufferable git. I hope you know that." She said simply with a smile. That was civil wasn't it?

"I've know that for quite some time now thanks very much." He said attempting to appear unphased. Still Emily could see his eyes flash with a momentary sullenness.

Now it was her turn to smirk.

Gardner:1 Black:0

"What I can't work out, is how you can act so prim and proper yet still have at least two of us coming in and out of this room at all hours of the day and night," Sirius said as a cynical, yet attractive smile once again reached his face. (Why did he have to be so bloody handsome?)

Emily's face flushed. Civil, she had to be civil.

"Just as it amazes me that you can be so arrogant, piggish and uncouth, yet still manage to be oddly attractive."

Damn it.

She hadn't meant to say that. It was as if her private thoughts had somehow slipped from her head down to her mouth. She was in for it now.

Sirius stopped twirling the string and stared at her, his grin broadening.

"So now you find me attractive eh?"

Emily felt her face heat up again. She tried hard to keep looking him in the eyes.

"That's not what I said." She told him in her most dignified voice. Though she was finding it rather hard to be dignified when Sirius Black was walking over to her bed in his signature seductive manner.

"No, but you meant it didn't you?" he was now leaning against her bed post, a grin still playing on his lips.

"Mr. Black," Emily said again making an attempt at a dignified sounding voice. "I will thank you to not take every word that comes out of my mouth out of context."

Somehow the color rising in her cheeks and her nervous manner had given her away.

"Oh don't try and pull that on me Gardner," Sirius said with a small, almost bark-like, laugh.

"You like me admit it." He moved away from the bedpost and walked closer to her. For the second time in three days, the color rising in her cheeks seemed to have rendered Emily void of articulate speech.

When she didn't answer Sirius smiled and leaned, ever so slightly, closer to her.

"See? Behind that oh-so-proper exterior, there's a side of you that would like nothing better than to shag me right now."

How dare he? A gentleman never suggests that a lady could think such a thing. Emily would have told him so if his face had not been barely six inches away from her own. It was all she could do to keep herself breathing properly.

"Admit it," he nearly whispered as he leaned closer.

Oh god he was going to kiss her. She didn't want him to. Did she?...

Of course not! He was unmannerly, sardonic, arrogant and...oh so handsome when his hair fell into his face like that. But that didn't matter. Did it?...

He was leaning in closer to her. She could feel his breath now... closer...closer...

"What's going on?" came the squeaky and somewhat panicked voice of Peter Pettigrew.

Salvation. Or was it?

Emily found herself thinking that if the interuption had come only two seconds later she would have found herself in a very different situation.

"'nother conquest Padfoot?" James's voice asked from the door way.

As Emily propped herself up on her pillows she could see him supporting a slightly wobbly Peter, who's face and hands had both been a bit singed.

"Just saying goodnight," Sirius said not moving from his position above her. He suddenly reached down and gave her a rather hard pinch on the cheek.

"'night Love," he said, laughing as he pulled himself back up and began to walk to his own bed.

Emily opened her mouth several times to say something very sharp to him but found that words were not enough to express her outrage. Just when she thought he could sink no lower!

In the end she settled for and indignant "humph" as she grasped the curtains around her bed and pulled them closed.

Well, she was glad of one thing; Remus hadn't seen that little episode. She still fancied him after all. Nothing Sirius could do would change that. Would it?

_No,_ Emily told herself firmly.

As she laid her head down to sleep she considered removing rule number three from James's required list.

Obviously civility toward one's enemies did not always give desired results.


	11. Dropping Eaves

Chapter 11: Dropping Eaves

Upon two weeks of appraisal of James's performance via the cloak, Emily had come to two very distinct conclusions.

One: Men have no clue what so ever about the way the world works outside their own unnaturally large heads.

Two: Chivalry can be taught.

On the one hand, James didn't seem to understand a concept that created one of the basic ground rules of a chivalrous attitude: humility.

No matter how hard Emily had tried to explain it to him, no matter how many times she had covertly stepped on his foot beneath the cloak during his attempted conversations with Lily, James Potter's favorite topic of conversation was and, (she feared) always would be: James Potter.

If she had to hear one more time about how he had won the quidditch (apparently a sport played on broomsticks, that sounded a bit like football) cup for his house team the previous year after performing a spectacular dive in grueling conditions, she would hurl herself out of the nearest window

It was obvious that Lily Evans shared her sentiments about James's topic of conversation.

Though, to his credit, James had as of late been able to engage Lily( he had successfully grown into the habit of calling her by her first name), in short civil conversations that did not involve slaps, insults, or any other confrontational devices. And this, Emily thought, was reason to congratulate herself.

So Emily continued to follow James despite the fact that she had promised her observation would only take a few days. James, after all needed all the help he could possibly get while around Sirius Black, who was not exactly the best influence.

Not that Emily didn't have her own motivations (other than James's continued progress) for following the four of them. She had known from the beginning that these little outings would be for her own enjoyment as much as the continued battle for chivalry in today's day and age.

And Emily was beginning to find that nothing gave her more enjoyment than watching Remus Lupin concentrate.

It was really adorably attractive the way little frown lines appeared on his forehead while pouring over the review for one class, or the homework for another. She even found that she had grown fond of his attempts at convincing the others (namely Sirius) to do the same. It was rare when he had the strength to scold his friends, and Emily always felt as though she was being let in on a treat when she heard him do it.

Not to mention that a veil of mystery surrounding Remus continued to pique Emily's curiosity. She still had not discovered what exactly it was that he was keeping from her, but she was now positive that it was something of importance

Needless to say, it was becoming difficult to stick to her mission. She only hoped she could keep James from noticing that she didn't exactly give 100 percent of her attention to all of his attempts at wooing Lily, preferring instead to keep her eye on his mysterious friend. This became a problem one afternoon in early June.

"So how did I do?" James whispered once he had pulled Emily aside to a dark corner.

To tell the truth Emily hadn't even realized that James had met Lily in the hall after Ancient runes. She had been quite intent on watching Remus's attempt to walk, carry his bag, and read the assigned chapter out of his transfiguration book at the same time.

Still, Emily proceeded to answer James's question. Which in essence meant, she proceeded to...er...fib.

"You're doing much better," she felt almost sickened with herself, but it seemed to be what James had needed to hear.

"Thanks," he said giving her a rather adorable smile that turned a guilty knot in her stomach.

"I was thinking of trying to partner her in charms next. Is that a good idea? I mean at this stage..." James said biting his lip and looking hesitantly at Emily

"I think it is a good idea to have more than a two minuet conversation with her. So go for it," she answered in a mannerly voice.

James looked relieved to hear her say this and began to walk back to the hall before Emily grabbed his arm again. It was worth reminding him one last time.

"Just remember, whatever you do, do not talk about yourself," Emily implored him for the umpteenth time. Now, however James put on his cocky grin.

"Well I'll try, but it won't be easy. I mean you try not talking about me."

One of these days he was going to learn that everything was not about him. But obviously that day was not today. So, for the time being, Emily settled for stepping down on his foot.

"Ow! Okay, okay, I won't talk about myself!"

Emily rolled her eyes, but put the invisibility cloak back over her head and followed him out to the hall, doubting seriously weather humility was a trait that he could ever aquire.

They stoped in front of the charms class room where they met up with Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

"Where have you been Prongs?" Sirius asked, slightly agitated. "We've been waiting out here for ten minuets."

"Sorry, got distracted," James muttered distractedly as Lily began to walk down the hall with her usual group of giggling girlfriends.

"Right," Sirius said smirking as he watched James's gaze follow the girls into the classroom. "You've been er...distracted a lot lately."

"By the way, congratulations on that front," Remus said putting his transfiguration book back into his bag. "You haven't been slapped in what, two weeks now?"

James put on another one of his cocky, triumphant grins. "Yeah, I told you she'd come around."

Of all the egotistical nerve! He seemed to have forgotten that if it hadn't been for Emily he would still be getting the cold shoulder. Emily took it upon herself to remind him of this and promptly slamed her foot down on his.

"Ouch!" James yelped

"What is it?" Peter asked

"Stubbed my toe on that step," James answered but continued under his breath "Would you quit doing that?"

"What did you say?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing," James replied a little too loudly.

"Hmm..." Sirius responded looking at him suspiciously as they reached the door and began to take their usual seats. Remus and Peter sat down at a double desk at the very front of the class room.

Sirius began to take the few steps to the desk directly behind them. James, however, took a sudden glance at Lily Evans. He made a determined sort of grimace and walked over to the other side of the room where Lilly had set down her books at a desk by herself.

"Fine, just abandon us then!" Sirius called looking vaguely sullen as James began to cross the room.

Emily was once again torn as Remus began to take out his charms book.

On the one hand she would have loved to watch him concentrate throughout an entire lesson as he would no doubt do, but on the other hand she had a purpose for using the cloak and she couldn't make up excuses for herself forever.

In the end the latter hand won out and, grudgingly, and with one last longing look at Remus's narrowed eyes as he studied the page in front of him, Emily followed James across the room.

"Hey Lily," James said in what was supposed to be an off hand, casual voice.

Lily looked slightly reproachful, but not unhappy to see him. At least they were getting somewhere.

"Hello, James," she said slowly bending over her bag to hide a small blush that Emily noticed was creeping into her cheeks.

Perfect. Now they were definitely getting somewhere.

"Look, I was wondering...if you wouldn't mind sharing a desk with me today," James was nervous, and he sounded like it.

Good. He was finally beginning to understand sincerity.

That only left humility and that civil to your enemies thing (which wasn't quite so important any more. Especially after Emily had met the slytherins. They truly were a violent, unpleasant lot.)

Lily looked at him for a moment and then turned to her girlfriends who had been watching the scene with rapped attention. As Lily looked at them they collectively began to giggle. Before anything else could be said each of the girls headed off to separate desks leaving Lily quite on her own.

"All right I guess," she said once certain that all of her friends had abandoned her.

"But just this once. I don't want you making a habit out of it," she said in an attempted stern voice. Though Emily was quite sure there was a small trace of a smile on her lips.

All things considered, James did very well for himself this time around. He kept most topics of conversation on the lesson at hand, he barely mentioned quidditch or his athletic ability, and actually managed to make Lily laugh more than once.

Things were going so smoothly in fact, that she was able to steal the occasional glance, (or long luxurious stare) at Remus Lupin who had finished his work and was currently writing intently on a spare piece of parchment. No doubt it was an essay for another class. But she had to wonder what class could possibly cause Remus to write so meticulously?

"So, there's another hogsmead visit next weekend..." James stirred Emily from her silent revilry.

"Is there?" Lily answered coolly, as if bracing herself. Emily resisted the urge to pull James out of the class room with all the force she could possibly muster.

"Yeah, they say it's the last one of the year."

What the hell was he doing?

"They do, do they?"

It was much too early for the courtship phase to begin. She thought she'd told him that.

"So, do you want to go with me?"

Apparently she'd forgotten or it had conveniently "slipped" his mind.

In any case, Lily didn't look all too enthusiastic.

"James we've been through this. I'm not interested," she said exasperatedly.

"Oh, all right then," James said, not attempting to hide his dejected state. This seemed to win him a bit of sympathy.

"But thank you for the offer," she added politely giving him a small smile. Though this seemed to cheer James up a bit, it did not stop him from throwing a mutinous glare in, what he was certain, was Emily's direction.

Emily however didn't catch the look that James sent her way, as she was looking across the room.

Her subject was no longer Remus Lupin, but the greasy-haired, hook-nosed small and lanky teenager sitting just behind him.

She had come to know Severus Snape in the past few weeks as extremely odd. There was no other word for it. He seemed to have a dark and bitter aura. Emily was in fact certain that he was one of the quiet ones, waiting, just waiting for his chance to snap. To do something so sinisterly evil that no one could ever have possibly seen it coming.

And it was clear that the foursome that she followed had the same feeling about him, only they (two of them at least ... three guesses which two) chose to take a more ... er ... active role in Snape's inevitable combustion. There were times when they were downright cruel to the poor boy.

And there were times when she herself did feel sorry for him, but now was not one of those times.

For now Severus Snape was wearing an evil smirk on his gaunt face and eying Remus's half open bag with undisguised glee as Remus attempted to covertly fold four pieces of parchment and stuff them into his bag with out any one noticing.

Emily got the feeling that, like James with Lily's diary, these pieces of parchment were something that Remus did not want any one else to see.

It was clear however, that like Emily, Severus Snape had seen them. It was also clear by the gleam of triumph in Snape's eyes that, unlike Emily, he planed to use this knowledge to his advantage. Whatever that was.

Well Emily wouldn't stand for it. She had to stop whatever he was planning to do. After all, Remus had never done anything to him. And she wouldn't watch him get in trouble because some undoubtedly quiet homicidal maniac had pinned him down as a target.

She would have to keep a close eye on Severus Snape.

Quietly she walked over to the other side of the room and slipped between Snape's desk and the small space before Remus and Peter's row.

Snape was still eying Remus's bag which was lying on the side of the wall, apparently currently unguarded, with fervor.

It was only moments later that the bell rung and Severus stood up like a shot, grabbed his bag and hurried down the steps.

When he reached the wall where Remus's bag had been haphazardly laid, he took a quick look at Remus who was busy closing his book and meticulously, almost lovingly, folding another piece of parchment, looking away from his bag.

Satisfied, Snape quickly, quietly, grabbed the bag by the handels and walked briskly out of the class room before anyone else.

Emily knew it. She knew she didn't like him from the moment she laid eyes on him. (Though, she thought, he would make a quite fitting mysterious evil villan ... )

But that didn't matter now. Now, somehow, she had to get the bag away from Severus Snape before he saw ... whatever it was that Remus didn't want him to see.

Emily followed Snape out of the classroom and into a dark corner where he opened the bag and took out the four folded pieces of parchment. He unfolded the first with a smile lighting his face.

Emily tried to think of something she could do to get that parchment from Snape's grasp. She inched closer to him trying to see it she could possibly reach it from over his shoulder. Yes that might work.

She had almost reached her hand out to take the pilfered object from Snape's greasy hands when three words written at the top made her stop dead in her tracks:

_My Dearest Emily ..._


	12. The Glorious Obsession

Chapter 12: The Glorious Obsession

The world seemed to have stopped turning as Emily began to read over Snape's shoulder:

_My Dearest Emily,_

I wish that I could understand this strange feeling that seems to come to the pit of my stomach every time I see your sweet face. I can't explain it exactly, but it's almost like walking outside into the warm air when you've been locked in a cold dark room your entire life. Like walking into the sunlight, that's what it felt like the first time I saw you. The first time your eyes blinked open underneath that tree.

Emily nearly allowed a squeal of delight to escape her lips before she remembered that she wasn't technically supposed to be there. Quickly she covered her mouth and continued to read over Snape's shoulder.

_I didn't know what it was then, I still can't exactly pinpoint it. I thought that it would go away after a while, but it hasn't. I still feel that way every time I see you. Even if it is just a few minuets after lunch or before dinner. And every time it's never enough. I want to be with you, talk to you, see you every minute of every day_

She knew exactly how he felt. His mealtime visits had become the highlight of her day. She had reasoned, before the letter that she simply enjoyed talking to someone she didn't have to teach or scold as she did with James and Sirius. But if she was honest with herself it was something a bit deeper than that.

_I'm still not exactly sure what this is but, I have a feeling what it might be. I suppose it's safe to say it here, with this quill, on this parchment. Yes, it is safe here since I will never let you read this letter. Not even in ten or twenty years when we're already married with three children and two dogs and... I'm fantasizing again._

The way he was talking it was almost as if... but no. They had only known each other for two weeks. It was far too early for...that. Wasn't it?

_All right. The point that I'm trying to make is, I think I'm in love with you._

Apparently he didn't think it was too early for...that. And at that precise moment it didn't matter. In fact nothing seemed to matter anymore. The rest of the world's joys and problems and concerns seemed to pale in comparison to the last sentence on that little piece of parchment.

He loved her! Remus Lupin was in love with her! Emily held her hand over her mouth to keep herself from shouting so that every one in the world would be able to hear.

(That would certainly silence Severus Snape, who was openly sniggering at the same sentence. Men just didn't get it.)

The letter went on, but before she could read any further...

"Playing hide and seek, Snivelus?"

Emily and Snape both turned around to find that Sirius Black had penetrated the dark corner, his wand out and pointed directly at Snape. Remus Lupin, who was currently wearing a rather panicked expression as his eyes darted to the parchment in Severus's hands, followed Sirius.

"Can we play?" Sirius's eyes darkened maliciously

Snape pulled out his wand faster than she had time to blink, but apparently it wasn't soon enough.

"Expeliarmus," Sirius said almost lazily. Instantly Snape's wand flew out of his hand and at least three feet into the air.

Emily watched in awe as Sirius caught it deftly with his left hand, while his own wand in his right hand was still pointed at Snape.

"Now, I believe you've got something that belongs to my mate here," Sirius indicated the bag, but Emily couldn't help but notice that Remus seemed much more interested in the parchment currently in Snape's hands.

Of course he wouldn't want anyone to know how he felt about her, he didn't even want her to know how he felt about her. Why were men always so embarrassed about this kind of thing?

"If it's so important to him, why doesn't he get it himself?" Snape retorted. He too seemed to have realized that what really mattered to Remus was the parchment, because he was now waving it in his hand and giving Remus a defiant sneer.

Hesitancy and indecision played on Remus's face, indeed his expression looked almost pained.

He had told her rather early on that magic was not allowed in the halls. And magic, Emily was willing to bet, would be the only way to get those pieces of parchment out of Snape's hands. Yet, in all the time she had been following him, she had never known Remus to break a rule. No matter how small or insignificant.

"Unless of course you'd rather have Black fight your battles for you, Lupin."

What a greasy little git! Forcing Remus to make such a decision was sinking to a new low.

Apparently Sirius (for once) felt the same as Emily. He raised his wand to Snape's throat a look of fury on his face. He opened his mouth to say something before Remus stopped him.

"Si-sirius, please. I can handle this."

Remus first took two steps toward Severus and made a grab for the parchment. Snape quickly jumped out of the way, his sneer broadening into an evil grin.

"Alright then," Remus muttered almost to himself.

Still looking quite hesitant, yet oddly determined, he slowly began to take his wand out.

Emily couldn't believe it. Remus Lupin, prefect, near perfect student, was going to break a firmly set school rule. And for what? For a letter! And, sort of... for her.

Well, not if she could help it. She didn't need him landing himself in trouble on her account. She wasn't worth it. (Oh, God! Emily thought, she was even beginning to think like a clichéd romance novel).

So, before Remus could lift his wand another centimeter, Emily stuck her foot out and swung it swiftly beneath Snape's legs, causing him to fall flat on his face. The four pieces of parchment that had once been clenched firmly in his hands scattered out across the floor.

Remus, apparently quite relieved, hurried to pick them up.

Sirius forcefully pulled Snape's head up by his long greasy black hair in order to look him in the eye.

"Watch yourself Snivelus," he whispered threateningly as Severus struggled to his feet.

"Next time I won't be so forgiving," Sirius lowered his wand, grabbed a hold of Severus's robes and shoved him out of the corner.

With one last defiant sneer, Snape grabbed hold of his own bag and disappeared down the corridor.

"You got lucky with that one, Moony," Sirius said as he watched Snape leave.

"I thought for a second that the perfect little prefect would've had to break a school rule."

Remus made an indistinct sound as he moved to pick up the second piece of parchment that had landed next about a foot away from his bag.

"What I can't understand is what that slimy little greasball wanted with this stuff in the first place," Sirius said in a casually perplexed tone as he picked up two of the pieces of parchment that were lying next to his foot.

One of them she realized, contained the first part of the letter Remus had written to her. The other ... Emily moved closer to get a better look.

From what she could see the other parchment Sirius had picked up had a drawing on it of a pair of, rather large, rather heavy lidded, rather familiar eyes.

Emily nearly let out a sigh again. Remus had taken the time to draw her eyes.

Wait a minute, she thought suddenly. Just her eyes? What was wrong with the rest of her body? Sure her eyes were her best asset, but the rest wasn't that bad. Was it?

She quickly chastised herself. She was being selfish. Besides poor Remus would no doubt have to endure all manner of teasing for the sake of her eyes. She could at least be grateful.

"What is this, Moony?" Sirius asked in a half-amused half-disgusted voice.

Remus turned around too late to see Sirius starring alternately at his doodle and his letter.

"Oh," he said attempting to control the red in his ears from continiuing down to his face. "Just a doodle." He reached over to grab the two stray pieces in Sirius's grasp, but Sirius tugged his hand away as he continued looking at the parchment.

"Really?" he said sneering broadly. "Then why do these eyes look so familiar?" Remus looked down to his bag attempting to hide the fact that his face was now completely scarlet.

"Let me guess -- this other piece has the exact same eyes drawn all over it..." Sirius still grinning playfully, was becoming increasingly amused at the panicked look on Remus's face. He slowly began to look at the second page in his hand, the page that contained the letter.

"Oh, looks like I was wrong," Sirius's eyes were now gleaming as he looked over the letter.

"My Dearest Emily," he began to read aloud.

Stupid prat. It was enough that the letter had been stolen in the first place with out his friends taunting him about it too. Still, from the likes of Sirius Black, she should have expected as much.

"Give it back, Padfoot, please?" Remus said frantically as he once again reached for the letter.

"I want to be with you, talk to you, see you every minute of everyday. You know Moony, normal people would call this an obsession," Sirius said looking over the letter as he kept it out of his friend's reach.

"Sirius please!" Remus implored once again. Finally Sirius looked ready to relent.

"All right all right. Here," he said, handing the parchment back to Remus, who slowly, almost lovingly folded the two pieces in turn and put them back into his bag.

"But honestly, if I were you mate, I would just go shag the girl and get it over with," Sirius said as they turned out of the corner and headed back toward the charms class room.

Emily's and Remus's mouths both dropped open.

Well, that was it! The new height of male chauvinism in today's society. When did men begin to get the idea that they could just go and _shag_ (one of the most horrid expressions in English, in Emily's opinion) anyone they wanted?

"You would do that?" Remus sounded as disgusted as Emily felt.

"Yeah, in a heartbeat," Sirius said casually.

Emily nearly stumbled over the cloak and had to hold herself up to keep her balance.

It was part of this sick attraction she had to Sirius Black that he could make her fall all over herself and turn completely red at the thought that he would be willing to shag her. And in a heartbeat, no less.

Remus threw him a reproachful look.

"Well, thank goodness I'm not you," he said as they neared the classroom where Peter appeared to be waiting for them. "I have a bit more respect for her than that."

She was glad at least that the boy who had fallen in love with her (at the very thought she was nearly tempted to dance a jig) was a gentlemen unlike the other men that surrounded him.

"Suit yourself. I'm just saying, she's already in your bed."

"Did you get it?" Peter asked almost excitedly as they aproached him.

"Yes Wormtail, we got it," Remus said giving a strange look to Sirius as he showed Peter the bag.

"Wow. What happened?" asked Peter. He sounded very much like a child eager to hear a story.

Sirius and Remus related the entire event to Peter, who seemed to be listening with rapt attention.

"You almost performed magic in the corridor?" Peter asked amazed. They had reached the point in the story before the revelation of the letter, but after Snape's dramatic exit.

"Looks that way," Remus answered. His ears began to turn red with the knowledge of what was coming next.

"Why?" Peter asked perplexed. Yet it was Sirius who answered as Remus began to fix his eyes on the floor.

"Oh, no special reason. Moony here was just protecting his... interests," Sirius said smiling at Remus, whose face was turing red.

"What does that mean?" Peter asked anxiously.

"It means that Padfoot was being a nosey prat," Remus muttered defensively.

Sirius appeared not to have heard him as he continued to answer Peter

"It means that Snape found some rather...er... personal articles in Moony's bag relating to his obsession..."

"Would you quit calling it that?"

"That's what it is."

Remus gave Sirius a death glare, which Emily realized with pride was somewhat reminiscent of her own.

"OK," Sirius conceded, looking rather alarmed. (No doubt he had noticed the resemblance also.) "It related to his ...er...interest in a certain item currently being contained in our dorm room."

"You mean Gardner?" Peter finally caught on after a rather muddled pause.

"Shh. Not so loud!" Remus whispered, looking frantically at the passing students.

"Oh, don't be so jumpy," Sirius was in contrast louder and more boisterous than ever. Reckless idiot, Emily thought savagely. "No one knows what we're talking about anyway."

"Including me. What are we talking about?" James caught up with the other three at a near run as they headed closer to the Great Hall.

"If someone wasn't busy chasing after Lily Evans, he'd know, wouldn't he?" Sirius said in an almost sullen voice.

"Before we know it you'll be writing little love letters, like Moony here." Sirius abruptly regained his enthusiasm for teasing Remus.

"A love letter?" James said grinning maliciously.

"Well, I was bored... I'd finished with the work ...and...and...what else was there to do?" Remus stuttered in a failed attempt to defend himself.

He was really quite cute when he got flustered like that.

"And to whom was this letter addressed?" James asked

"Three guesses," Sirius said

"Ah, Emily," James said with a newfound understanding.

"Would you quit shouting it?" Remus whispered once again quite frantically. As he pulled the doors open to the Great Hall.

As much as Emily would have liked to continue to follow them through dinner, she and James had both agreed that she would be back in the dorm room as soon as lessons were over. So, grudgingly, with one last look at the group as they began to join the queue for dinner, she headed up the stairs to the common room.

As she mounted the stair well, she couldn't help feeling that finding out about Remus's obsession was the most worthwhile discovery she'd come upon in the past two weeks.

A sweet, handsome, chivalrous, genleman was in love with her! And she knew, the moment before her reading of the letter had been so rudely interrupted by Sirius Black's now-infamous bad timing, she was quickly realizing she might be falling in love herself.


	13. Requited Love

Chapter 13: Requited Love

"My dearest Remus," Emily began composing the letter in her head. But could not seem to find her way past those three words.

"My dearest, darling, sweet, wonderful, perfect Remus," she muttered to herself as she grabbed one of his pillows and gave it a body hug as if it were the last thing she would ever hug again. A string of small giggles (the fourth in the twenty minutes she had been laying on his bed) issued from her mouth, and she made no attempt to hold them back.

This was surely love. The butterflies in her stomach, the little letters, and the sweet smiles they sent to each other. Yes, it was love, and it would be love forever and ever until the world stopped spinning

Emily realized vaguely that she could not simply stay in this dorm room forever and ever until the world stopped spinning, but that was a small issue.

She now only had one issue that seemed worth tackling: did it have to be three children? She'd had her heart set on two. One boy to be named Edward, and a girl to be named Sylvia after her mother.

Oh, well. She could simply add that to the list of things she would have to change Remus's mind about before the marriage...

There was a knock on the door. Remus.

Another fit of pleasurable giggles threatened to envelope her. This time she had to hold them back. After all, he wasn't supposed to know that she knew about the letter.

Suddenly her feeling of euphoria was replaced by a strange sensation that she was being entangled in something over her head.

"Come in," she said attempting as best she could to hide the rebellious giggles that were still fighting their way out of her mouth.

"Hi, Emily," he seemed a bit shyer today than normal. That was to be expected though.

"Evening Remus. So what is it today?" she asked in continuation of their now normal routine.

"Lamb chops. And lemon tart for dessert," he answered

"No chocolate?" she asked, not hiding the fact that she was a bit disappointed.

"Nope, sorry," he said wearing a hint of a smile. Her love of chocolate always seemed to amuse him for some reason.

She heaved a sigh and gratefully took the chocolate less plate he handed to her.

"I can't stay long tonight. We've got final exams tomorrow," he said taking his usual chair next to her bed.

"I understand," she said.

Though she couldn't help but feel the slightest bit disappointed. After all, she'd spent the last several minutes drawing up quaint, romantic scenarios, all taking place over this particular dinner break.

"They say that sixth year finals at Hogwarts are really important," Remus's voice was shaking more then usual. Even considering how shy Remus was normally, coupled with what had happened that day, it seemed odd.

"Remus. Are you all right?" Emily asked hesitantly

"I'm fine...it's just finalls," Remus gave her a very forced smile. there was definitely something he was hiding.

"Besides it's probably best I don't spend too much time up here," he said suddenly standing up from his chair.

"Why not?" Emily was taken a back. Half an hour ago he was madly in love with her. A person can't possibly have a change of heart in 30 minutes. (Then again she would never have thought that it was possible for a person to fall in love in two weeks at the age of 16, either.)

"Well, you know the others are starting to talk..." he made a very daring attempt to laugh this piece of information off, but failed.

"So? Who cares what they think?" Emily sat up on her bed and gave a defiant pout.

She had just found the love of her life, and damned if Sirius Black, or James Potter, or even Peter Petigrew for that matter, was going to mess it up for her.

"I do," he answered in the boldest tone she had ever heard him use with her. "They're the only friend's I've got."

Loyalty. A chivilrous trait. However, it wasn't doing him any good in this case, and she could tell.

"Remus, if they're half as loyal as you are, I highly doubt that they'd abandon you simply because of me," Emily reasoned. She could tell by looking at him that he was more relaxed about the subject then he had been. She wondered, if this was a good time to, tactfully of course, bring up the romance issue. She'd give it a shot, she decided.

"Besides, even if there was something going on...which there's not," she added, remembering once again that she "hadn't seen the letter," "it wouldn't be any of their business. Would it?" She stood up and walked closer to where Remus was standing.

He became rather visibly flustered as she did this, but made a very bold attempt to hide it.

"I guess it wouldn't," he answered straightening himself up and trying very hard not to look at the floor.

"No. It wouldn't," she said definitively, taking a small step closer to him. "Honestly, Remus. I know they're your mates and all, but you can't answer to them your entire life."

She took a larger step closer. Even she wasn't entirely sure what she was planning to do. In fact, this was beginning to remind her of that horrid Sirius Black episode two weeks ago. The one she was glad that Remus hadn't witnessed.

"Then who would I have to answer to?" he asked rather quietly as he swallowed.

Feeling rather rebellious, and with full knowledge that this went against most of the chivalrous principals which she so avidly preached (a lady never makes the first move), she took one last step toward him.

"Well..." she was never able to finish that sentence. At that precise moment the door swung open.

"Hey Romeo, we're waiting."

Sirius Black. Impeccable timing as ever. (By her mother's standards he would never make it as an actor. Although he did have the looks...)

"Tell them I'll be there in a minute, Padfoot," Remus answered not taking his eyes off Emily.

"Oh I'm not sure I should trust you Moony. I mean after our little ... discussion today, who knows what you might do."

Remus looked threateningly at Sirius and shook his head slightly. He was obviously afraid that Sirius would let something slip about the letter he had written to her (the one she didn't know about).

"Tell me," Emily said rounding on Sirius and sounding, to put it mildly, rather agitated.

"Has your mind always been buried so deeply in the gutter or is this a recent development?" of course, she finished this off with another one of her flourishing death glares.

"Only since I met you, love," Sirius answered with a cheeky grin.

Emily gave Sirius a shocked and rather venomous look as she sulkily turned away from him so that neither he nor Remus would see the slight blush in her cheeks.

"Sirius, please," Remus said rather firmly. (And with a hint of jelousy.)

"OK, OK," Sirius started to head to the door, before turning around and adding, "but we're not waiting much longer. So whatever you're...er... planning to do, Moony, bettered make it quick." With one last signature wink at Remus, Sirius left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Emily felt an urge to throw another one of her shoes at the door while Sirius was closing it. Instead she settled for a small, frustrated "ugh."

"Has he always been that...cheeky?" she asked Remus, still in a quite vindictive mood.

"Really, he's not as bad as he seems," Remus said placently.

"Sure he sometimes acts like an idiot around girls, but once you get to know him..." he trailed off, realizing that once again Emily was mere inches from him -- in almost the exact same spot she had been before the rather unfortunate interruption.

"Well, I'm still glad that you're not at all like him," she said quietly.

Once again, not entirely sure of what she was doing, she raised herself on her toes and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Good night, Remus," she said, beginning to move back to her bed.

He simply stared at her for a moment. His hand was touching the place where she had kissed him as if not daring to believe what had happened.

"Right. Good night, Emily," he began to back out toward the door, though he did not take his eyes off her, or remove his hand from his cheek. She could not suppress a giggle as she watched him stumble on a drawer as he walked backward into the door frame.

"I...uh...might not be up here before bed tonight. After all, the meeting--"

He stopped suddenly looking furious with himself.

"I mean...er... studying could take a while," he corrected slowly.

A meeting was it? This was interesting. It meant that whatever it was that he was hiding from her, the others were in on it.

"So I'll... uh...see you in the morning," he said finally beginning to close the door behind him.

"See you in the morning, Remus."

He smiled broadly at her before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

So, at that very moment her four protectorates were having a secret meeting. About what? It was barely a minute before she recognized, rightly, that wondering was getting her nowhere.

James had not bothered to come up and fetch his cloak after dinner. It was still lying on the end of his bed, where Emily had placed it safely before dinner.

So doing what any self-respecting, noble, young heroine would do. She slipped the cloak over her head, opened the door, and made her way down stairs,

Finally she caught up with Remus who was half-way to the common room. It was mostly empty save for a few people studying at the tables or in the arm chairs by the fireside.

Remus walked past all of them and headed toward a small table in the far right corner where Peter, Sirius and James were already seated.

"Finally," James whispered feircly as Remus sat down.

"What were you doing up there?" Peter asked eagerly.

"Do you even have to ask?" Sirius said with a grin as he nudged Remus in the ribs.

Emily blushed again, but was far too interested in why they were all meeting in a darkened corner to feel too embarrassed.

"Right," Remus said definitely, ignoring Sirius's and James's smirks. "Are we ready?"

"_Now_ we are," James said, the slightest ebb of impatience in his voice.

"The ..." James stopped confussed for a moment.

"Sirius, what number are we on?" he turned to Sirius.

"What?" Sirius said putting his feet up on the table. "You expect me to keep track?" James waved an impatient hand.

"Oh well, the number ... something ... monthly meeting of the Mauraders has officially come to order."


	14. The Mauraders

Chapter 14: The Mauraders

The Marauders? Emily had a sinking suspicion that this had something to do with those nick names they used for each other.

She couldn't count the number of times she'd asked about them and had never gotten a straight answer. It was always: "It's a long story".

Honestly could a girl find out anything with out having to eavesdrop?

(Not that she minded to tell the truth. Her uncle wouldn't be pleased about it, which was always a good thing).

"First topic of discussion," James said with mock seriousness

"And the entire reason we can't meet in the dormitory," Sirius said with an odd look at Remus, who obviously felt the need to defend himself.

"It's not her fault!" he said "And we could have met up there if we'd told her the truth from the beginning."

"Oh, please Moony, just because you've fallen head over heels for her doesn't give her the right to know everything," Sirius said quite sullenly.

"That isn't the point," James whispered frantically, clearly hoping to avoid the issue of telling Emily the truth whatever it was. Apparently Remus was not the only one that felt a certain moral ambiguity about hiding things from her.

"The point is how are we supposed to get her out of there?" James, Peter, and Remus all looked at each other hoping for some sort of answer.

Well! Emily thought indignantly. It was certainly nice to know that they were all so eager to be rid of her.

Though to tell the truth, she was not all that eager to leave. In fact she might just down right refuse and stay in the dormitory her entire life. What was stopping her?

(Aside from the obvious obstacles of clothing, food, and the fact that the school would be empty in a month due to summer holiday. But she could work around all that...)

Sirius leaned back on his chair not looking in the least bit worried.

"Well, it's obvious isn't it? There's a Hogsmeade visit this weekend." The others looked at him intently.

She could tell that two of them knew what he was suggesting and were quite hesitant about it. Peter though, apparently hadn't caught on, "And...?" he asked bewildered.

"And..." Sirius answered with impatient ebb to his voice "We throw the invisibility cloak over her and send her back to the woods where we found her."

Whatever strange and oddly endearing feelings Emily had harbored for Sirius Black vanished at that moment and were replaced by nothing but the up most contempt.

Not for the first time since she'd been there she was forced to listen to them talk about her as if she were some stray animal they had picked up off the side of the road.

"Just like that?" Remus asked alarmed.

"Have you got a better solution?" Sirus asked sharply.

"We can't just drop her out into the forest on her own! She's not an animal!"

Once again Remus Lupin had the courtesy to voice exactly what Emily was thinking.

"Besides, it's far too soon," he added as an after note.

"Well we'd bettered make a decision quick!" Peter quipped. "We need to get onto the important stuff. Personally, I agree with Sirius. I mean she can't stay here much longer can she?"

"Well...no," Remus conceded quietly, but then he opened his mouth again for one last stab at a defense. "But we should...wait. I mean her leg's not completely healed yet..." he added quite lamely.

She could tell that he was searching desperately for any reason that would allow her to stay. How romantic!

"Oh come on, Moony! Both you and I know there's nothing wrong with her leg," Sirius said quite bitterly, now fighting to keep his voice down.

"Even I don't know what you're talking about Padfoot. Her leg was broken when we brought her here," James said bewildered.

"Oh, you didn't see her up there just now, Prongs. She looked perfectly fine to me," he said the last bit sharply to Remus.

"Yes...but...but she only took a few steps up there," Remus said once again unconvincingly.

"Look, Moony," James began. "I know you like her and all, but Sirius's right. She can't stay here her whole life. I mean what happens when summer comes? Are you going to find away of staying alone with her, here for three months?" James said this with a cynical laugh.

Remus's expression was now one of almost blissful thought. Emily could tell that that idea of spending three months alone with her was not exactly unappealing to him. Not that she would be complaining either...

"Don't answer that," Sirius said suddenly correctly interpreting his friend's expression.

"Besides, sooner or later someone's bound to find out about her," James continued.

"Yeah. We can't make up a story big enough to cover this up," Peter reasoned.

It finally seemed to become clear to Remus that he was fighting a losing battle.

"So that's it? We just leave her there on her own?" he asked the others quietly. Sirius was the only one who didn't look at least slightly sympathetic.

"Well, she's far from defenseless," Sirius said with a slight laugh that sounded more like a bark.

He apparently still didn't grasp the meaning of chivalry. It didn't matter if she could take care of herself, it was basic principle: A lady is never meant to be stranded with out an escort.

"How do you know that?" Remus asked sharply once again.

"Well she's got two of us under her thumb hasn't she? It's gotten to the point where Wormtail and I are the only sane ones left," Sirius said with a now strangely sullen look at James.

Peter seemed to swell with pride.

"What do you mean?" James said suddenly defensively.

"Don't pretend like we haven't noticed, Prongs. Your whole attitude's changed since she's been here," Sirius answered.

Emily knew that by we Sirius was referring only to himself, because the other two looked slightly bewildered as their eyes wandered back and forth from Sirius to James.

"What are you talking about?" James was failing miserably at being non- chalant about this particular topic.

"I'm talking about how you've suddenly taken to going straight up to the dorm room every night. Not to mention the Evans thing..." Sirius trailed off.

"What Evans thing?" James demanded, his ears turning slightly pink.

"The following Evans around like some love sick puppy dog thing," Sirius answered.

"We know you've always fancied her, but now it's getting ridiculous! You're positively drooling all over her! And I know that Gardner's got something to do with it."

"Oh don't be absurd! James Potter does not drool over any one," James said, his face now entirely scarlet.

"God I wish you could see yourself!" Sirius said with the slightest hint of a laugh.

"Look it doesn't matter!" Remus said quickly.

"It matters more than you think it does," Sirius said in a now-significant whisper.

"I read the rest of the letter moony. You were two steps away from admitting to the girl that you're a werewolf!"

What? What was he talking about?

Surely it was a metaphor of some kind, and not a very good one at that. Emily had never in her life met any one less wolfish than Remus Lupin. The idea was absolutely laughable!

"Would you keep your voice down?" Remus implored with a quick check behind him.

Wait... if it was a metaphor then why was he acting so jumpy about it? It...it couldn't be true. Could it?

"Besides, it's not as if she was ever going to read it."

Werewolves were not real. Were they?

"Oh, no. It's much better to have Snape find it for her..." Sirius said sarcastically.

Then again, this world was very different from the world she knew. But still, Remus?

"He's been particularly interested in where you go to once a month, I hope you've noticed," Sirius continued.

Once a month. The full moon came once a month. But that meant...

"And since you seem to be so keen on telling the truth, to every one who wants to know..." Sirius trailed off almost threateningly.

"You wouldn't dare!" Remus whispered frantically, his eyes wide.

It was true!

"Oh wouldn't I?" Sirius whispered with a triumphant smirk.

She had fallen in love with a werewolf!

Emily gasped aloud, but quickly covered her hand with her mouth. The four boys turned around. After a rather tense moment all of them seemed to agree that the muffled sound had been nothing.

"Listen," James said finally, "we can't argue about this all night. The full moon's tomorrow and we haven't even got the map out yet. If we don't start looking at it we won't have a clue as to what we're..."

"Oh no!" Remus exclaimed.

"Don't tell me. You forgot the map," Sirius said with a weary eye roll.

"I must've left it in my bag upstairs," Remus said beginning to get up from the table.

Emily began to walk towards the stair well in order to get back before Remus, when she heard Sirius Black say, "No. I'll get it. If you go we won't be able to expect you down until morning."

Perfect, Emily thought frantically as she nearly ran up the stairs. She was once again about to find herself alone in the dorm room with Sirius Black.

As she threw open the door and closed it once again quietly behind her, and idea struck her.

She took off the invisibility cloak, laid it on her bed and then climbed under the covers.

After all, that rather awkward situation with Sirius had taken place while she was awake. Surely she couldn't do anything to subconsciously embarrass herself while she was "asleep".

So as she heard his footsteps come closer to the door, She turned on her side facing the door so that he would be sure to see her (another thing about acting her mother had taught her to play to her audience) and quickly closed her eyes a second before Sirius came in.

She heard his footsteps stop for a moment before walking briskly to the side of her bed where Remus had left his bag.

"Oh, yes. You look so innocent lying there don't you?" Sirius muttered, clearly under the impression that she couldn't hear him.

Bastard.

She could hear him rummaging through the bag looking for the map...whatever that was.

"But don't think I don't know what you're trying to do, 'cause I'm watching you every second I can," he muttered again once she'd heard that he had retrieved something from the bag.

Emily stifled a snigger. Considering that he hadn't even caught on to the fact that she had been following the four of them in James's invisibility cloak, he was obviously not as observant as he liked to believe.

"In fact, I'll bet you're not even asleep."

Damn. Why did he have to do that? Well, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was right. Her eyes stayed resolutely tight and she lay almost as still as if she were dead.

"Well, maybe not," he concluded.

Ha! Once again she'd proved herself a better actress than most of those idiots back home thought her to be.

"But that doesn't mean that there's nothing calculating going on in that sweet little head of yours," he said maliciously.

"You're probably dreaming of turning us all into, perfect, gentlemanly, robots. Well I've got news for you. It's not going to work."

She turned "in her sleep" to keep Sirius from seeing the smile that appeared on her lips. He was afraid of her! Underneath all that cool, charming, arrogant, exterior, lay the heart of someone who was just as insecure as anyone else. It was sort of...sweet, to tell the truth.

(Okay maybe not quite. He was still arrogant after all...)

She heard him take a couple hesitant steps backward, when she turned. But when she lay still again, she could hear his shoe's coming closer to the bed.

"Still," he said after a second. "I can see what Remus meant. You are quite attractive..."

She tried very hard to remind herself to breath as she felt him lean over her and touch her cheek.

Just as he removed his hand from her cheek, she heard the door open.

"Padfoot..." Remus's voice began, but stopped very suddenly.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a very fierce whisper.

She heard Sirius move very quickly away from her bed.

"I...er...got the map," Sirius said sounding uncharacteristically flustered.

"You'll wake her up," Remus said coolly. His voice was nearing the spot that Sirius had just left. His hands reached her covers, straightening them unnecessarily.

Then, apparently losing all the nervous energy that he displayed around her when she was awake, he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

It was almost as if he were marking her as his. He was proving to Sirius that she was off limits. Emily wondered vaguely if this was a werewolf thing...

"Come on then," Sirius said, sounding slightly ashamed as his footsteps sounded towards the door.

"Good night, Emily," Remus whispered, before following Sirius and closing the door behind him.

Emily briefly considered following them.

She still didn't know everything.

But as she lay in bed, she had decided that she had learned quite enough for one night.

Even an actress could only take so much confusion. And everything she had just witnessed, certainly made for plenty of it.


End file.
